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FEATURE


tom line is follow up, follow up, fol- low up. Surveys that sit and are not acted upon are a waste of everyone’s time and lead to frustration. In the future, these people won’t take the time to complete the survey. It’s all about turning the data into actions.” This line of thinking applies to


any satisfaction survey you conduct, including one with your physicians’ office schedulers, O’Neill says. “If you identify potential barriers to your working well with the offices, you have to determine what you can do to address them. You may want to go out and visit with the offices and say, ‘We have heard you and I’m here to reas- sure you that this is how we’re taking care of your concerns.’ What you want to do is take that data, make changes— in my experience, it usually all comes down to communication—and then get back to them on what you did. Per- haps you invite all of the schedulers from the offices, give them a tour of the ASC and show them what you’re now doing for them; show them that you listened to them and here’s what you’ve done to minimize the barriers preventing them from sending pa- tients to you. This shows the schedul- ers they’re important. It personalizes your attention to their needs.” Satisfaction surveys are not just about identifying problems in need of improvement; they’re also helpful in gathering ideas to make positive expe- riences even better, Blake says. When- ever your ASC receives a request, look into whether it would be possible—and worthwhile—to implement the sug- gestion. “As a result of feedback from our patients and surgeons, we opened the ASC for a couple of Saturdays dur- ing the busy season. The feedback has been very positive with respect to Sat- urday surgeries.”


Share Your Successes When your ASC receives excellent results from satisfaction surveys, use


22 ASC FOCUS APRIL 2013


If we’re going to conduct the surveys, we make sure we’re sharing that information.”


—Stephen Blake, Central Park Surgery Center


that to your advantage in any way possible, Blake says. “If you don’t toot your own horn, a lot of times it won’t be tooted at all. You are the holder of the data; do not be bashful in sharing it. There is an expectation that we want to do things in an ex- cellent or extraordinary manner, but at the same time, if we’re not taking time to recognize the areas we are ex- celling in and be thankful for them, it’s harder to keep that focus up.” O’Neill says good results should


be turned into an internal market- ing tool. “Your providers, your staff, everyone who touches that facil- ity—which would also include your provider offices—should know the results and know how well you’re doing. That goes a long way toward


developing a good reputation and people wanting to come to your ASC. Put the data on your web site. Note that your patients say they would recommend your facility, that your patients have confidence in the care that’s provided.” Blake says that he references


Central Park Surgery Center’s pa- tient satisfaction results during man- aged care contracting negotiations. “I point out that 99 percent of our patients would recommend the cen- ter or come back to the center. In our particular case, it’s an ongoing seven-year survey, and the results are consistently positive.”


ASCs should consider sharing the results of their physician satisfaction surveys with insurers as well, Martin


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