The patient as the customer

The tide seems to continue to turn in favor of the patient. Recent examples include Geisinger Health System offering refunds for unsatisfactory customer experiences. Besides the financial benefits of customers feeling heard, the health system apparently sees the offering as a system to gather valuable feedback on what needs to be fixed. Likewise, Vivian Lee, the CEO of University of Utah Health Care wrote a piece in Harvard Business Review detailing the health system's efforts to put patient reviews online; the CEO talks about asking patients about what constitutes excellence. Both of these actions show that at least some in the provider community are beginning to recognize the importance of the patient viewpoint; Vivian Lee went so far as to highlight how higher revenue coincided with higher patient satisfaction scores.

These are only two of many healthcare institutions; however, they are names that are well-recognized. It remains to be seen whether the provider community at large will adopt similar attitudes, and if so, how long it will take for such attitudes to take root.