New Financial Motivation for Investing in the Patient Experience

May 20, 2016

The push to improve the patient experience was given financial teeth several years ago when HCAHPS scores were linked to reimbursements.

The message was: Do poorly and be fined by penalties.

Not necessarily an ideal way to motivate hospital leaders to do the right thing because it is the right thing to do. But recent data shows that facing penalties may not be the only financial incentive to get hospitals to improve the patient experience.

New Data on Patient Experience Scores

In a study done by Accenture, hospitals with the highest patient experience scores benefited with margins 50% higher than those with lower scores. To achieve the revenue growth without the improvement in patient experience scores, a hospital system with $2 billion in revenue would have to eliminate 460 jobs.

Do better, make more profit.

What an amazing concept. And yet most healthcare organizations (and many other companies) think that the only way they can make more money is to eliminate costs. Such an oversimplification.

Investing in patients, nurses, and physicians in your own organization makes so much more sense than putting good works on the chopping block.

Mission More Important Than a Stock Portfolio

At Healing HealthCare Systems, now approaching our 24th birthday, it never occurred to us to cut costs in order to grow. Investing in our team and our product and services year after year is the most sincere expression of faith in the future that we promise as a company.

It is indeed putting our money where our mouth is. It demonstrates that the risk, whatever it is, is better taken on our mission than on external stocks and bonds.

This is great news for hospitals! Invest in the patient experience and the money comes back. Not only in better profits, but in healthier communities and organizations. In happier patients and staff.

Isn’t that what’s really important?

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