Physician satisfaction helps gain buy-in for QI
Physician satisfaction helps gain buy-in for QI
Program is among several ongoing efforts
A physicians satisfaction team developed at All Saints Hospital in Racine, WI, has helped gain physician buy-in for the new service-oriented culture the quality department is seeking to encourage at the facility. In the process, All Saints has raised physician satisfaction from the 75th to the 90th percentile, and enjoys less than 2% physician turnover.
Despite its success, however, the facility’s top quality professional notes that such a program is just one of a number of ongoing efforts aimed at engendering a greater sense on ownership on the part of the medical staff.
"We started the team around 2002," recalls Loren Meyer, MD, vice president, Quality and Medical Education. "A lot of it came down to our recognition that we had an opportunity to build physician loyalty both with independent physicians as well as with our employed physicians."
At the time, the hospital was going through a period of rapid growth. "We recognized the fact that we needed to continue to grow, but we had also embarked on a major culture shift in service excellence," he notes. "In order for that to be a success, we needed the involvement and leadership of physicians."
Putting the team together
After learning about the physician satisfaction team concept from The Studer Group, it was up to the All Saints quality staff to create that team. "We looked at having a leader in place who had a key operational role in interacting with physicians," Meyer explains. "For example, the person who led the team for the last several years is in charge of medical group finance — they do a lot of reporting of financial indicators to physicians — including their own income. The rest of the team is populated with employees who have interest in working with physicians." These people, he explains, are frontline employees, including direct patient care professionals in the medical group and the hospital, as well as people who perform back-office functions.
How does the team operate? "They ask the physicians what they need and what they want," says Meyer. "For example, one of the things they were very frustrated about was trying to get hold of each other by telephone; they always ended up with voice mail, when they just wanted to talk with someone."
The hospital telephone directory, he notes, did not list personal office phone numbers. "The team developed a laminated card with physicians’ names and direct phone numbers, their nurse’s number, and their pager number; this was a huge satisfier," says Meyer.
The team also goes through patient satisfaction data to discover which physicians are being complimented by patients. "Then, they write personal notes to those who did well on the satisfaction surveys, thanking them for providing such exceptional service," Meyer reports. This has proven extremely effective. "I had one doc who was ready to retire, and we were struggling to see how we could cover his patients," Meyer recalls. "He got one of our notes and was so moved he said if I needed him to stay another three months he would do it!"
Another initiative involved surveying physicians’ spouses to find out what their husbands came home and griped about. "It was not as fruitful as we might have hoped," he concedes, "but it was a good idea to enfranchise the spouses."
Senior leaders key
Meyer says that virtually any hospital can create such a team. "The biggest piece is that senior leaders really need to believe they want to enfranchise physicians," he emphasizes. "They have to be willing to respond to the input from physicians. And it doesn’t really much matter if you have independent staff, or employees, or a mixed model like ours. What’s critical is the recognition of their value to the system."
It’s important to recognize, he adds, that a physician satisfaction team will not be a cure-all. "As a stand-alone, it will not get you all the way home," Meyer asserts. "You have to get your physicians involved with clinical improvement and with service improvement, even in terms of financial planning and decision-making. Whenever we see an opportunity to partner with them, we do it."
Because of that attitude, he continues, physicians are much more likely to "step up to the plate" when needed. "We had some real challenges with patient access," he recalls. "We explained the rationale to the physicians. There was some grumbling, but in the end, we got 4,000 additional appointment times a year."
The bottom line, Meyer concludes, is "we have seen increased buy-in from physicians in the new culture."
Need More Information?
For more information, contact:
- Loren Meyer, MD, Vice President, Quality and Medical Education, All Saints Healthcare, 3801 Spring, Racine, WI 53405. Phone: (262) 687-8172.
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