Improving Healthcare Service Quality: Listen to the Patient and Take a Comprehensive Approach

With healthcare reform legislation and the spread of value-based payment models, traditional healthcare quality measures have evolved to include patient perception of the experience of care. Citing concern that many factors outside the organization's control could arbitrarily influence patient perception, many healthcare leaders have opposed Medicare's weighting of patient satisfaction data in its value-based purchasing formula. We contend that the patient's perceptions of various dimensions of service quality are integral to its improvement. The aim of this article is to share Mayo Clinic Arizona's (MCA) “7-prong” model for service quality improvement, as well as key lessons learned with its implementation in our Family Medicine Department. The model incorporates these service quality principles: (1) multiple data sources to drive improvement; (2) accountability; (3) service consultation and improvement tools; (4) service values and behaviors; (5) education and training; (6) ongoing monitoring and control; and (7) recognition and reward. The model is driven by service-related data and a culture of accountability. A few key lessons, learned over the past several years, are shared to help other healthcare organizations on their service quality improvement journeys.