Revenue Cycle

Postdischarge calls enhance patient satisfaction

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, September 5, 2007

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Many experts argue that one of the most effective ways to enhance patient satisfaction during the discharge process is to implement postdischarge phone calls.

Patient access or case management can make these calls to establish a rapport with the patients and ensure future business.

In the book Patient Satisfaction and the Discharge Process: Evidence-Based Best Practices, author and discharge expert Paul Alexander Clark says that if he could choose only one best practice measure to improve patient satisfaction scores, he would select postdischarge phone calls.

Calling every patient after his or her hospitalization helps build loyalty and is a market differentiator for hospitals, Clark says. He lists the following benefits of establishing a call program:

  • Increased patient satisfaction
  • Increased response rates to patient satisfaction surveys
  • Better patient compliance with medication regimens, therapies, and appointments
  • Improved medication safety
  • Clearer understanding of your patient's perception of service
  • Better clinical outcomes

    This tip was provided by June Stark, RN, BSN, MEd, director of case management at Salem (MA) Hospital and North Shore Medical Center, in Lynn, MA.



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