Insights: Solving the Patient Experience Mystery with the Power of the First Call

In this episode of the MGMA Insights podcast, we’re joined by Kristin Baird, President and CEO of the Baird Group. Baird is a consultant, author and speaker who specializes in patient experience, healthcare culture change and medical mystery shopping, among other areas.

You can browse Baird’s extensive library of tools, articles, videos, blogs and white papers at baird-group.com/resources. You can also see her selection of books at bit.ly/2O6895L.

Don’t quite have time to listen to the entire episode? No worries. We’ve compiled an assortment of highlights from Baird’s interview for your convenience:

• (8:31) “I've always believed that healthcare is the ultimate human service. It comes down to one human being caring for another. And I found that in those care relationships, there's a sacred trust at play, and that sacred trust can never be taken for granted.”

• (14:57) “We're in the age of consumerism. Our patients are more savvy than ever before. They're consumers who are more involved and question more than ever before. That, I think, has been the biggest impediment is that we haven't kept up well with an age of consumerism.”

• (37:50) “When you look at patient satisfaction data, that is people talking about their experience when they've been a patient with you. Nobody's been measuring the ones that got away. So, unless you're not concerned with building value or building your business, phone calls are really important.”

Here are some links and reference related to this week’s show:

• The Power of the First Phone Call: Factors Influencing Patients’ Likeliness to Return to a Medical Practice (bit.ly/2RknL7W)

• A Healthcare Wake-Up Call: Prepare For The Patient Experience Of The Future (bit.ly/2NUNKk4)

• Your patient has something to say: Taking customer service insights from the patient’s perspective (bit.ly/3azpXA9)

• The role of professional intimacy in patient experience (bit.ly/36kW6Ih)

• 3 Surefire Ways to Improve Your Patient Experience in 2020 (bit.ly/36kIm0e)

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We love hearing from listeners about the show. If you have topics you’d like us to cover or experts you’d like us to interview, email us at [email protected] or reach out to MGMA Sr. Editor and podcast host Daniel Williams on Twitter at @MGMADaniel.

MGMA Insights is presented by Decklan McGee, Rob Ketcham and Daniel Williams.

Additional Resources

Join other healthcare professionals who always keep the bottom line in mind at MGMA20 | The Financial Conference, March 5-7 in Nashville. To learn more or to register, visit mgma.com/TFC20.