Improving healthcare service quality through performance management.

PURPOSE: Healthcare service quality in the USA has gained importance under value-based payment models. Providing feedback to front-line staff is a vital component of managing service performance, but complex organizational dynamics can prevent effective communication. This work explored the performance management of appointment desk staff at Mayo Clinic Arizona, identified barriers to effective management and sought to standardize the process for monitoring service performance. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: Multiple data sources, including qualitative inquiry with 31 employees from the primary care and surgery departments, were used. The research was conducted in two phases - facilitated roundtable discussions with supervisors and semi-structured interviews with supervisors and staff six months after implementation of service standards. Participants were probed for attitudes about the service standards and supervisor feedback after implementation. FINDINGS: While all staff indicated a positive work environment, there was an unexpected and pervasive negative stigma surrounding individual feedback from one's supervisor. Half the participants indicated there had been no individual feedback regarding the service standards from the supervisor. Presenting service standards in a simple, one-page format, signed by both supervisor and the patient service representative (PSR), was well received. ORIGINALITY/VALUE: Combining rapid-cycle quality improvement methodology with qualitative inquiry allowed efficient development of role-specific service standards and quick evaluation of their implementation. This unique approach for improving healthcare service quality and identifying barriers to providing individual feedback may be useful to organizations navigating a more value- and consumer-driven healthcare market.

Creating an Excellent Patient Experience Through Service Education: Content and Methods for Engaging and Motivating Front-Line Staff.

Service quality and patient satisfaction affect an organization's value-based payments. This new value paradigm calls for a new approach to service education and training for front-line staff. Thoughtfully conceived, department-specific content, infused with patient feedback, value creation, and science of service quality principles, was developed to give front-line staff a deeper understanding of the impact of their performance on patient experience, value creation, and value-based revenue. Feedback from nearly 1500 trainees in 60 educational sessions delivered over 7 years indicates good understanding of the content and appreciation of the targeted approach. On a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (least effective) to 5 (most effective), trainees' ratings of their understanding of service quality concepts and impact on value ranged from 4.7 to 4.9. Verbatim comments showed a positive impact on staff. Employee feedback suggests that value-based service education may be useful in motivating front-line staff, improving service quality, and creating value.

Improving service quality in primary care.

A framework for improving health care service quality was implemented at a 12-provider family medicine practice in 2010. A national patient satisfaction research vendor conducted weekly telephone surveys of 840 patients served by that practice: 280 patients served in 2009, and 560 served during 2010 and 2011. After the framework was implemented, the proportion of "excellent" ratings of provider service (the highest rating on a 5-point scale) increased by 5% to 9%, most notably thoroughness (P = .04), listening (P = .04), and explaining (P = .04). Other improvements included prompt test result notification and telephone staff courtesy (each by 10%, P = .02), as well as teamwork (by 8%, P = .04). Overall quality increased by 10% (P = .01), moving the practice from the 68th to the 91st percentile of medical practices in the research vendor's database. Improvements in patient satisfaction suggest that this framework may be useful in value-based payment models.

A roadmap for improving healthcare service quality.

A data-driven, comprehensive model for improving service and creating long-term value was developed and implemented at Mayo Clinic Arizona (MCA). Healthcare organizations can use this model to prepare for value-based purchasing, a payment system in which quality and patient experience measures will influence reimbursement. Surviving and thriving in such a system will require a comprehensive approach to sustaining excellent service performance from physicians and allied health staff (e.g., nurses, technicians, nonclinical staff). The seven prongs in MCA's service quality improvement model are (1) multiple data sources to drive improvement, (2) accountability for service quality, (3) service consultation and improvement tools, (4) service values and behaviors, (5) education and training, (6) ongoing monitoring and control, and (7) recognition and reward. The model was fully implemented and tested in five departments in which patient perception of provider-specific service attributes and/or overall quality of care were below the 90th percentile for patient satisfaction in the vendor's database. Extent of the implementation was at the discretion of department leadership. Perception data rating various service attributes were collected from randomly selected patients and monitored over a 24-month period. The largest increases in patient perception of excellence over the pilot period were realized when all seven prongs of the model were implemented as a comprehensive improvement approach. The results of this pilot may help other healthcare organizations prepare for value-based purchasing.