Thinking Of Patients As Customers And Why That's A Good Thing

You might have heard of this ongoing turn in the healthcare industry that hospitals and practices of all kinds are starting to think of their patients as customers. This immediately conjures horrible thoughts about price gouging and corporate strong-arming and greed. But it can also make for some truly great advances in the kind of service we can expect from our healthcare providers. Here are some reasons you should think of the positives of thinking of patients as customers.

Image Source

Visibility

When you think of marketing, some people think of it as the practice of selling someone on something they’re not yet convinced on. For business, it’s a messy yet essential process to survive. But in healthcare, it’s not only essential for the survival of the business. Thinking of your outreach as a marketing and publicity campaign and using all the industry techniques involved could create a stronger message that’s a lot more visible to potential patients. It can remind and help people seek the treatment they are looking for, or the treatment they should be getting but just aren’t.

The performance of the team becomes a lot more important

Anyone working in healthcare knows that patients aren’t always right and aren’t always the most pleasant part of the job. However, a practice depends on them returning, which means that employee performance needs to be taken more seriously. By focusing on key performance indicators and further training, that focus towards customer satisfaction can create a much stronger team and a much stronger business.

A focus on the barriers of the industry

One of the greatest failings of the current medical profession is the barriers that make it difficult for a still significant amount of people to get treatment. By putting the focus on customers first, practices have been ensuring the improvement of technology. For instance, web video communication has always been a promising way of delivering remote treatment, but it’s only recently that HIPAA-compliant video for doctors made it truly viable as an option.

The rest of the market is already thinking that way

It might not be the most noble of reasons, but it is true that the medical industry has become more competitive over the past years. Which means that you need to be competitive and to learn about market positioning if you truly want to compete. However, that can be used as a reason to create more value for potential patients. For instance, creating a blog could both give expert advice while at the same time helping to build your brand amongst the rest of the market.

Remembering the difference

At some point, we have to recognize, however, that patients are not entirely customers. Too much of a focus on customer satisfaction can get in the way of providing the services that they truly need. To run effectively, any practice needs to know when to divorce from the notion that they are a business and focus on being a healthcare provider.

If there’s one thing that doctors, practices, and hospitals can learn from business, it’s the focus on the customer. Think about how your workplace might start benefiting from it.