In honor of Patient Experience Week 2018, we’re offering a few key resources to help improve the patient experience in your hospital or health system.
The patient experience encompasses the entire range of interactions patients have with your system, from their doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff, to their physician’s office, their health plan and other health care facilities. With reimbursement now tied more closely to patient satisfaction, a good patient experience has become key to keeping your doors open.
The Beryl Institute, an association dedicated to helping members improve patient experience, is a great resource to help your organization refine its patient experience. The institute offers poster templates and suggested activities to help you remind staff about the things that contribute to an excellent patient experience. According to the institute, the key elements of patient experience are:
- Interactions
- Culture
- Perceptions
- Continuum of care
These measures impact patient satisfaction scores (HCAHPS) which can affect hospital reimbursement and reputation. Patient satisfaction is a key indicator of how the patient received the experience they had while in the care of a hospital or health system. It is important for hospital departments to work together as interdisciplinary teams to deliver the best possible experience.
When analyzing your organization’s patient experience, don’t overlook the financial experience a patient faces as they go through the continuum of care. The Advisory Board’s James Green outlines three key ways to improve the patient financial experience in Becker’s Hospital Review.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services also offers a variety of resources devoted to improving patient experience, including surveys, guides and podcasts.
Regardless of a person’s or department’s role in the health care system, all employees contribute to the patient experience on some level or another. For example, while traditionally behind the scenes in a hospital, pharmacy is making inroads to work at the forefront of patient interactions, helping to explain prescriptions, reconcile medication lists and more.
How Pharmacy Contributes to Good Patient Experiences
At CompleteRx, we believe pharmacy staff can and should contribute to a positive patient experience in several ways, such as:
- Medication reconciliation by technicians
- Clinical pharmacist on the pain management team
- Medication education
- Medication cost control
“We’ve seen first-hand how a hospital can dramatically improve the patient experience by having pharmacy partner with other departments,” says Terry Andrus, CompleteRx CEO and President. “The days of pharmacists and pharmacy technicians operating in a vacuum is long gone.”
Discover how pharmacy can help improve the patient experience by watching our webinar, Improving the Patient Experience Through Pharmacy.
To learn more about a pioneering HCAHPS initiative that positively influenced scores and overall patient care, view this video (3:23 min) about a CompleteRx and Roane Medical Center patient experience project.
Pharmacy can help drive the revenue cycle to make it easier for hospitals to be transparent and to generate accurate data. Find out how with our webinar, 5 Ways Your Pharmacy Can Boost Your Revenue Cycle.
Be sure to follow our Knowledge Series on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook for the latest pharmacy news, updates and tips to help your hospital and health system pharmacy.
