Eyeworld

65 OPHTHALMOLOGY BUSINESS November 2018 ___ 18. In addition to paying attention to complaints, we listen carefully to patient compliments, and use these to better understand what patients like and how we can deliver more of that. ___ 19. One of the most important traits we look for when hiring new staff and doctors is their friendliness and empathy for the feelings of our patients. We can teach anyone how to answer the phone or run a visual field, but it's hard to teach someone how to like people and serve them in a manner that leaves them de- lighted with the care they received. ___ 20. We briskly remove or reas- sign staff who are not patient-friend- ly. In addition to knowing how to consistently perform the technical components of their job, every staff member needs to know how to delight patients. We have dismissed staff who complete their core job functions well but who didn't meet our standards of customer care. The maximum potential score on this is 100 points. Add up your practice's score. Note any especially weak areas for priority attention. Hold a group discussion with your management team. Remember that a patient's level of satisfaction is simply the com- parison between their expectations and their experience. In all service sectors, customer expectations are rising, at the same time that your patients have the ability to very publicly score their perception of the service you provide. In addition, third-party payers commonly make their panel decisions as much on patient complaints as they do on ad- verse utilization or outcomes. In an increasingly transparent and judg- mental world, managers are as much a determinant of practice success as the surgeons they serve. EW CHICAG0 2018 Thank you for providing unrestricted educational grants: Allergan Inc. Bausch + Lomb Carl Zeiss Meditec Johnson & Johnson Vision Santen Shire Sun Pharmaceuticals Thank you for your sponsorship of the EyeWorld Corporate Event: Ellex Mr. Pinto is president of J. Pinto & Associates Inc., an ophthalmic practice management consulting firm in San Diego. His latest ASCRS•ASOA books, Simple: The Inner Game of Ophthalmic Practice Success, and the fifth edition of John Pinto's Little Green Book of Ophthalmology, are now available at www.asoa. org. He can be contacted at pintoinc@aol.com or 619-223-2233. Ms. Wohl is president of C. Wohl & Associates Inc., a practice management con- sulting firm. She earned her Masters of Health Services Administration degree at George Wash- ington University and has more than 30 years of hospital and physician practice management experience. She can be contacted at czwohl@ gmail.com or 609-410-2932. About the authors

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