Welcome to the Patient Satisfaction Tip of the Week!

With an industry-wide shift toward clinical excellence and value-based payment, patient satisfaction is more important than ever. At L.A. Care, your patient satisfaction scores* partially determine your payout for VIIP (Value Initiative for IPA Performance) and the L.A. Care P4P (Pay-for-Performance) Program. L.A. Care's Quality Improvement Department wants to help you increase patient satisfaction in your practice and maximize your award. To assist you, we’ll be emailing weekly tips on various topics, such as accessibility and appointments, customer service and staff morale.

Tip #1: Alleviating Wait Time Complaints 

Time spent waiting to see the provider is a common complaint among patients. Delays happen, but there are ways to make them less painful.  Upon check-in, tell patients their approximate wait time and offer alternatives if you are significantly behind schedule.  Maybe the patient can reschedule, be seen by another provider, or they might have a question that can be answered by a medical assistant or mid-level practitioner.  Also consider if there are steps in your intake process that could be refined to see patients faster. The Advisory Board has a great article about a helpful plan-do-check-act method.

We hope you find the tips useful. If you represent an IPA practice or clinic, we encourage you to share these tips with the providers in your network. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact L.A. Care’s Quality Improvement Department . * scores are from Clinical and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) survey

L.A. Care Health Plan , a public entity serving Los Angeles County

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