- What is all this emphasis on patient satisfaction? For 2022, CMS is basing 60% of quality scores on Patient Satisfaction! How does this work? CMA will send out surveys to Medicare recipients asking about their satisfaction with their healthcare experience. Of course, being government-run, there are some…let’s just say quirks...with their methodology.
- Recipients are asked to base answers on their most recent medical experience (Could be the PCP…or the podiatrist who yanked out that ingrown toenail.)
- More questions relate to the geniality of the front office staff than about the actual care provided.
- Recipients are asked about wait times. (Ut oh.)
- One question asks if bladder control was discussed during their visit (because every good podiatrist asks about the bladder!)
- Other examples: Were you advised to exercise? Did you have your medication reconciled (by the provider)? Were you asked about fall concerns during your recent visit?
Okay, okay. Now that I have your blood pressure high enough to qualify for RAF scoring, yes, it is difficult. No, there is nothing we can do to change it. But, never fear. I am going to give you some tips on how to handle these WHILE providing excellent patient care.
TIPS:
1. Do make basic customer service a priority with your staff. If they know YOU care, they will care.
2. Look at how you schedule patients. Do you have a problem every DAY with wait times (not talking about the day that you had to call EMS twice in one morning)? If it is a chronic problem, you may benefit from tweaking your appointment schedule. Of course, just reminding your staff to keep patients informed about delays can go a long way towards easing frustrations.
3. Consider incorporating a question about bladder control into your medical assistant’s rooming tasks—but if the answer indicates a problem, she can urge (urge, get it?) the patient to make a separate appointment with a statement such as, “Dr ___ will want to address that issue at a visit solely for that reason, as it can be complicated, but bladder control has a HUGE effect on quality of life, so we can get that scheduled before you leave today.”
4. Ask about exercise and remind your patients you want them to be as active as they can be. Consider putting up some posters encouraging exercise in the exam rooms for subliminal communication.
5. Obviously, the provider does not need to personally reconcile each patient’s medications, but the question is worded to imply that by CMS. You can circumvent this problem with one statement at each visit: “I have reviewed your medications personally after you confirmed what you are taking with my CMA and I see no problems with them.”
6. Have your MA ask older patients if they have fallen recently. Yes, the fall risk assessment only has to be done once yearly, but CMS asks “if falls were assessed at the most recent visit.”
These small tweaks should help your office to score well on the CAHPS surveys and save you some headaches!