Another key finding from our study of Twin Cities heart centers
In our report released in September, we outlined six common “ailments” found during our four-month study of the patient experience at Twin Cities heart centers, such as confusing names and poor wayfinding. Our study also exposed a number of other issues hospitals and other healthcare providers face in providing a positive patient experience that didn’t make it into our report. In this article, we look at one of those — the convenience of services provided — by drawing comparisons to changes in the banking industry over the past 20 years.
Whatever happened to bankers’ hours?
In today’s world of ATM’s, online banking and Sunday hours at the local bank branch, many people may have forgotten about “bankers’ hours.” For the course of most of this nation’s history, banks were pretty much the choice for financial services, facing little competition for a consumer’s savings. Banks knew there were few other choices where consumers could deposit, save or invest money, and they acted accordingly. For example, many institutions defined “bankers’ hours” by closing at 3 p.m. during the weekdays (forget about being open on the weekends).
Historically, there may have been valid reasons for these hours, but by the 1970s and ‘80s, bankers’ hours were still quite common despite an obvious change in consumer demands. Why were these inconvenient bankers’ hours maintained? Maybe because banks knew consumers had little choice to go elsewhere. However, when deregulation arrived in the early 1980s, and the stock market boom of the 1990s followed, banks became only one of many options consumers had for saving and investing. As a result, banks had to learn how to compete and market their services, and how to provide convenience and deliver better service to their customers.
Hospitals and their bankers’ hours
Hospitals today are in very much the same boat as bankers in the early 1980s, with increased competition coming from many new and powerful forces — niche hospitals, outpatient imaging centers, nurse-staffed kiosks in retail stores such as Minute Clinic, and more. Consumers have more and more choices for receiving healthcare, and many are founded on the competitive principle of offering more convenience than hospitals or traditional clinics.In our study auditing the first impression patients have at the top 11 heart centers in the Twin Cities, we found a number of examples of the hospital equivalent of bankers’ hours.
For example, during a call to a hospital’s heart center at 5:45 p.m., our auditor reached a voicemail message that said the heart center closed at 5:30 p.m. (despite a sign on the entrance to the heart center that said it was open until 10:30 p.m.). The voicemail system immediately transferred the auditor to an automated message, which said, “Sorry, the voicemail box you have reached is not accepting messages. Please disconnect.” The call was then disconnected without any option for leaving a message.
In two other cases, an auditor calling for information during the noon hour was told to call back because the person who had the information was “out to lunch,” and a call to another heart center went unanswered at 7:45 a.m. on a weekday.These are just a few examples, and odds are if you looked around your organization, you could find many yourself. Other examples of a “bankers’ hours” mentality in healthcare are primary care clinics that close at 5 p.m. on weekdays, and hospital visiting hours that unnecessarily restrict family or visitor access to patients.
How do hospitals need to change?
Hospitals and clinics need to take a fresh look at how they offer their services: Is access based on traditional hospital cultural or organizational forces, or is it based on what best meets your audience’s needs? How convenient is a clinic that closes at 5 p.m., making it inaccessible for many working patients? How hard is it to stagger schedules so there’s always someone available to answer questions or schedule appointments during the lunch hour? Why have an after-hours phone service that does not allow a caller — a potentially new “customer” — to at least leave a message?
Like bankers over the past two decades, healthcare providers are being forced to improve their access and service. For example, many hospitals across the country are expanding visiting hours, or eliminating them all together. Web-based services and call centers are other ways hospitals can offer more accessibility and convenience to their patients. Given the increasing proliferation of competitive alternatives in today’s healthcare market, the question isn’t whether or not your organization should improve the convenience you provide your patients and their families. The question is, how long can you afford not to?