Over the last few months I presented research results to a half dozen different health system leadership teams, and I repeatedly encountered a particular situation: the teams were inevitably surprised by some of the research results regarding quality of care, either for their organization, or for a competitor. They questioned how consumers could think a particular healthcare organization provided such a high (or low) overall quality of care, when they, the professionals, had proof to the contrary?
What is “quality healthcare” anyway?
For medical professionals, quality healthcare means providing care that increases the likelihood of desired health outcomes. This encompasses care that is effective, efficient, equitable, patient-centered, safe and timely. This is often based on what can easily be measured, including infection rates, re-admissions, mortality rates, and a host of other things – and on the basis of those measures, and how they compare to peer organizations, they define themselves as providing a particular level of care.
Why do consumers see things so differently?
To a consumer, quality of care doesn’t just come from treatment plans. Consumers have no way of knowing whether their outcomes would have been better or worse if they’d gone elsewhere, so they use a whole different set of criteria to define quality. Quality of care begins the moment an individual interacts with your organization: the moment they search for information and land on your website, request an appointment with a provider, or enter your practice. What is that experience? How are they greeted by the parking attendant? Is the nurse taking vitals friendly? Do they wait a long time to see a provider? Does the provider spend enough time with them? Does the provider seem interested in and concerned about them?
All of these experiences are part of a patient’s definition of “quality of care” because each is an opportunity to demonstrate care and concern for that individual and begin to craft a positive and personalized experience.
Why should I care that consumers measure quality differently?
If we accept that consumers define quality very differently, in the end what does that matter? Well it turns out, it matters a lot. Consumers are increasingly self-driven in their healthcare choices: many go online first, and virtually all go online eventually, to research providers. They are looking for reviews, ratings and advice from other consumers who have experience with their condition and your organization, and what they find can significantly impact the choices they make. While you might provide the highest quality of care according to medical standards, these consumers are tapping straight into your brand reputation, which is based on consumers’ much more expansive definition of quality.
Brand reputation is one of the most important drivers of consumer choice for site of care for a serious condition, and reputation encompasses a consumers’ entire care experience. To be a provider of choice, health care organizations must pay attention to the entire experience, and focus their attention on the aspects of a patient’s journey that are negatively affecting a patient’s perception of quality, and thus, their brand reputation.
– Posted by Stephanie