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Consumer-friendly healthcare: Hospital eyes amenities for patients

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, May 23, 2007

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Nowadays, strategies to improve customer service and the patient experience are on every access manager's mind. It's vitally important for all hospitals to at least consider how they can make patients feel less like a number and more like a valued customer.

Officials at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital in Orlando, FL, proactively reached out to area hotels and the University of Central Florida's Rosen College of Hospitality Management in January for ideas how to achieve this, reports the Orlando Sentinel.

Dr. P. Phillips Hospital is located in a vacation area where tourists make 90,000 emergency room visits each year.

"We give great service and we give great care, but sometimes I think the consumer is probably looking for a little more . . . especially if they're here on vacation or they're staying in a hotel to begin with," Cheryl Cyr, manager of hospitality relations for Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, told the Sentinel.

Many hospitals, like Dr. P. Phillips Hospital, have already opted for hotel-style amenities, such as spa services, wireless Internet in each room, and valet parking. Dr. P. Phillips has also begun staffing the emergency department with guest-services representatives to help patients assist with any number of issues, such as travel arrangements.

The guest-representatives can also refer families of patients who need an overnight stay to an adjacent pavilion that features 12 guest rooms, a children's activity area, and a meditation garden.

According to Rich Rasmussen, a spokesman for the Florida Hospital Association, patients now believe they are entitled to special treatment.

"Patients are looking for growing value for the healthcare dollars that they spend. We expect it from restaurants, we expect it from the auto dealer, we expect it from hospitals, too," he told the Sentinel. "And hospitals are doing everything they can to give people the best possible stay."

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