Patient satisfaction in behavioral medicine has been extensively studied and has served as an indicator of quality of care. A challenge in using this metric to evaluate behavioral medicine patients is that many of the underlying patient diagnoses could negatively impact satisfaction scores.
Some studies suggest patients with underlying severe mental health disorders such as schizophrenia are more likely to give providers lower marks as compared to patients with more mild exacerbations of their underlying condition. Providers therefore not only have the challenge of medically managing these patients but also working to achieve good marks on their provider report cards. Are patients that are struggling with the lows of depression more likely to rate a provider on the lower end of the scale? Most likely. Due to the nature of mental health disorders at baseline, I would argue behavioral health clinicians have a more challenging hurdle to surmount when it comes to these quality metrics.
There are other considerations when it comes to patient satisfaction and behavioral medicine such as the environment from which the patient receives clinical services, whether it be inpatient or outpatient. Research suggests hospitalized patients are more likely to rate on the lower end of the spectrum as compared to those who are receiving services on an outpatient basis. Other determinants of patient satisfaction include the typical factors that we would anticipate for any medical specialty such as professional competence, positive mentality, professionalism, strong communication skills, and treatment plan efficacy.
Patients who are high utilizers of the healthcare system may be low raters when it comes to quality metrics; those highs and lows may due to the nature of their underlying disorders. According to the ADAA, anxiety disorders affect 40 million adults in the US over the age of 18. These disorders can be episodic or recurrent, and often challenging to control. Panic attacks may bring patients back to outpatient and emergency providers on numerous occasions, especially leading up to their formal diagnoses.
We know that medicine is an art, a science, and a business.
However, not a single provider reading this article wrote their personal statement for medical school admission on how they dream of achieving the highest rate on patient satisfaction surveys. Is it our job to heal or provide customer service? To be blunt – it’s both. Two providers enter a patient exam room. One is direct, to the point, doesn’t give the patient time to explain themselves, doesn’t try to include the patient in their care process. The second provider makes eye contact, listens, empowers, and encourages the patient and reminds them that the healing process is a partnership that needs investment on both the patient and provider end. Both providers end up prescribing the same medication. Which patient encounter has the better outcome? It’s a “gimme” test question.
Sure, professional competence is high on the list of qualifiers, but it takes so much more than professional competence to provide a positive patient experience. In the behavioral medicine sector, patient satisfaction can be even more of a challenge, and we need to consider how to address providing professional clinical services while being mindful of how you are being perceived by your patients.
Specifically designed for the behavioral health industry, our platform was created to help providers deal with the challenge of providing professional clinical services and improving patient survey outcomes.
Don’t choose between high quality customer service and high-quality patient care – just choose Opus Behavioral, and you can provide both.
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