Editor: The 3 primary characters working in the theater of your practice today
Is the patient the Hero, the villain or the inconvenient obstacle? Let’s consider what happens millions of times a day and how "most" medical offices put function and process over patients.
By Editor, Concierge Medicine Today | Listen to the Latest Industry Podcast Episode
Most medical offices in the U.S. and abroad today tend to prioritize functionality and processes. And, rightly so! It's a double edged sword though. This means that each staff member has specific job responsibilities, plays a distinct role within the scheduling process, and has a list of daily tasks to complete. For example:
Who opens the office every morning?
Who assists with patient intake?
Who escorts patients to their rooms?
Who manages pre-authorizations?
Who handles paperwork and billing?
Who answers, makes, and returns phone calls?
In the midst of the functions of the daily processes, you also assign your team the vital responsibility of welcoming patients and ensuring they feel comfortable—ideally with a smile! However, it is all too common for patients entering most traditional medical office settings today to be treated by staff (and sometimes even their physician) as “inconvenient obstacles.”
Unfortunately, patients do not share this same functional and processed viewpoint. I've often reminded doctors "Sure, healthcare is a process, absolutely! But, the patient should never feel processed." Instead, we have to remind ourselves if you work in a medical office that patients are on their own unique journey. Every persons journey is different and you are simply a supporting cast member in the theater of their adventure into and out of healthcare.
You see, patients today are unaware of the specific tasks your nurse will tackle during their visit and they are not concerned with all the complexities involved in processing their payment for the recent exam. Instead, patients perceive their experience in terms of scenes and these "scenes" tend to unfold as follows:
Scene 1: The drive to the practice.
Scene 2: Finding a parking spot.
Scene 3: Approaching the front doors.
Scene 4: Navigating the lobby.
Scene 5: Making the most of their waiting time.
Scene 6: Interacting with staff and completing intake tasks while being escorted to the exam room.
Scene 7: Entering the exam room, taking a seat, and preparing to meet the doctor.
Scene 8: Engaging in a Q&A session with the doctor.
Scene 9: Transitioning from doctor to staff.
Scene 10: Billing and discussing next steps.
Scene 11: Walking to the parking area and locating their car.
Scene 12: Exiting the parking lot while avoiding traffic.
Scene 13: Picking up a prescription (or the kids, dry cleaning, groceries).
As leaders in the medical field, we need to acknowledge that these interactions (with you and your staff!) and the patient experiences that follow (and reviews!) contribute to the story and narrative about your practice, your brand, your reputation and overall story being told about you in your local community by your existing patients.
Every Patient today should be seen as the Hero of their own story because they’re the ones overcoming a lot of obstacles just to get in the room with you! But inside the theater of your practice (i.e. your brand and your reputation!) your patients will usually encounter two or maybe three different characters in the midst of all the scenes they encounter. There's the villain (or enemy), the ally and the Hero.
Typically, because of the medical school you went to, your background, fellowship, specialty training or years you've simply dedicated to your practice and profession, you see yourself as the Hero. I do as well, but most patients don't. It's hard to see yourself not as the Hero because you solve complex problems FOR every patient. But, you likely have three types of employees working for you right now that fall into one of these supporting roles that the patient views as just that, 'support'. There's the wise and all-knowing Physician (ie. the Ally), the Practice Manager that makes the busy practice run (ie. sometimes another Ally or perhaps a Villain), and if you're lucky, a Technician, Nurse or Physician Assistant who may also become the patients Ally or enemy.
All of this function vs. patient perspective may seem counter intuitive and according to the healthcare culture you and I live and work in, it is. Throughout every patient journey, patients will encounter moments of tension and will need an ally. The last thing they want is to be treated like they're an inconvenient obstacle by one of your staff (or you!). When you treat patients (which our healthcare culture typically does) as inconvenient obstacles, following repetitive processes, putting bureaucracy and function over people, you immediately become the villain in their story once they leave your practice.
Your team members and staff (even you of course!), all play a central role in either relieving the tension that pops up in the patients journey. Whether it's working around a restrictive policy in a moral, legal and ethical way or resolving a recurring functional problem for the patient, you have the opportunity today to become the villain or Hero of the story that the patient will tell.
What type of supporting character will you and your staff play that helps the Patient (i.e. the Hero!) ultimately reach their destination? Your involvement and leadership today will significantly impact the journey and story that patients will share with others tomorrow. (Hint: this is how that word-of-mouth marketing stuff happens!).
If you become the patients ally and treat the patient with a grateful spirit, you will become the Hero of their story simply because you removed obstacles or provided a little more clarity for them. Don't permit your staff to unintentionally become the patients adversary due to a restrictive policy or barrier -- do everything you can to treat the patient first! I refer to this as 'remark-ology' in the concierge healthcare space because what it does is curate remarkable moments FOR patients that they will one day (hopefully soon!) remark to others about! Those are the memories that patients remember.
My mentor said it best "When you get small and personal, you become memorable."
If each patient visit begins and ends with this shift in perspective and you become a supporting character (i.e. an Ally!) I believe good things will happen FOR your practice! After all, it's no longer about being the best Doctor in the world anymore, it's about being the best Doctor FOR the world, FOR your Patients and FOR your local community!