July 12, 2006
Fred Lee, author of If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9½ Things You Would Do Differently, challenged attendees at HFMA's 2006 Annual National Institute (ANI) to improve employee satisfaction and build customer loyalty by taking a tip from Disney and put courtesy ahead of efficiency. Lee drew from both his experience as a hospital executive and as a Disney cast member. At ANI, he presented two special breakout sessions as well as a jam-packed general luncheon session, all sponsored by 3M Health Information Systems and AIM Healthcare.
"Managers have plenty of ways to benchmark other hospitals, but looking at a company outside the healthcare industry that is world-famous for its guest relations can help them think a little differently," Lee commented in a recent interview for hfm. He noted that the way patient satisfaction is scored in health care is not the way it's done elsewhere, so some of his messages have "a slightly counterintuitive flavor to healthcare managers."
Every manager of a unit that has patient contact, including the finance department, should focus regularly on these top drivers and require staff to be proficient in creating the key impressions that matter most to patients. Every caregiver should be able to list the top three or four drivers of patient perceptions that produce loyalty.
Focusing on the "Unmeasurable"
When hospitals spend most of their effort in clinical results and process improvement, their data is defined by outcomes and, therefore, can be measured objectively. In contrast, the patient perception is formed by the overall experience of being in the hospital. This is subjective and cannot be verified in the same way as outcomes. The patient may experience an excellent clinical outcome, but still be displeased or angry. Both perceptions and outcomes are vital, but each has a different impact on hospital viability and success.
Shaping these perceptions and managing them effectively is vastly different from approaches and techniques for improving outcomes.
Managing Outcomes Versus Managing Perceptions
| Outcomes (left brain) |
Perceptions (right brain) |
| Objective, measurable |
Subjective, impressions |
| Created by a team |
Created by individuals |
| Map and study process steps |
Take action—just do it! |
| Improve technical competence |
Inspire attitudes and behaviors |
| "Zero defects" thinking |
"Best possible" thinking |
| Based on what you do |
Based on what you say |
Outcomes are delivered by teams, whereas impressions are delivered by individuals. Managing each of these takes a different skill set. Most managers are not equally gifted at doing both. With more understanding of their essential differences and subsequent different approaches any determined manager can become proficient at both. The next issue of HFMA Wants You To Know will take a look at some of these skills.
SOURCE: If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 9½ Things You Would Do Differently, presented by Fred Lee, June 21, 2006, HFMA's Annual National Institute.
Additional Resources
Reports and tools to enhance the patient experience are available on the PATIENT FRIENDLY BILLING® web site.
If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Maxine Harrison at mharrison@hfma.org.
HFMA Wants You to Know ISSN: 1540-0697. Volume V, Issue 15. Copyright 2006, Healthcare Financial Management Association. All rights reserved.
Eliminate carelessness
Eliminate avoidance