Customer/Patient Relations and Communication

Enhance physician-patient communication in your medical practice. Is the only time your patients talk to their doctor during a 15-minute visit? If so, patients may feel more like a number and less like a person.Or, they might be confused about their follow-up care.

A recent MGMA e-Source newsletter article reported that more doctor communication equals better patient care. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to support the relationship patients have with providers, leading to greater patient satisfaction and the No. 1 priority of your practice – quality care.

  • Help patients ask the right questions

Empower your patients – and help your physicians at the same time – by educating them before their visit on what they should ask their doctors. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's "Questions Are the Answer" site provides helpful tips for patients to give and get information from doctors to prevent medical errors. The site even allows users to build and print their own question list.

Adopt an EHR

Physicians will spend less time with charts, more time focused on patients. Plus, the information from patients' personal health records can be shared with them during the visit, helping them to feel more confident that their doctor is ahead of the technology curve.

Encourage feedback about your patients' experience

Place feedback forms in your waiting room, have a Web form on your Web site and even have physicians hand out feedback cards to patients after their visit. Being open and welcoming to feedback will encourage patients to be honest and may reveal some opportunities to enhance communication with their doctors.

Use e-mail and Social Networking

Convenient for patients, e-mail is less disruptive on your front office staff (think triaging phone calls) and can be answered during scheduled hours instead of right away. Offer a structured form on your medical practice's Web site that allows patients to chat with doctors, as well as choose from a variety of options such as: refilling prescriptions, requesting an appointment and getting test results. (MGMA members who use MGMA AdminiServe partner Medfusion get a discount on these services).

Note: All sensitive health information must be delivered through a secure Web link and Web site, rather than by attaching it to the e-mail itself. Read a doctor's perspective in "Making Web visits work for your practice" from the MGMA Connexion magazine.

Make it all about the patient

What your patients experience before they talk to a doctor can affect how they feel about him or her. Employ compassionate staff who love to work with people and convey that each patient is a valued individual.

Accommodate foreign language speakers

If your patient base includes those who speak other languages, ensure that doctors and clinical staff can communicate with the patient before agreeing to see them. Also, ensure that signs in the practice, prescriptions and patient statements include translations for non-English speakers. Through MGMA and the AHRQ/HRET you can order patient safety resources in Spanish and English.