You said “Our Patients are Our First Priority.’ You promised customer delight.
You lied.
You fixed my finger in the ER, but after attempting to understand the bill, I need brain surgery.
I found a dummy’s guide to reading your medical bill. It was four pages long (the bill was two pages) and it included diagrams, arrows and decoding instructions.
Your billing system is not designed for me, the patient/customer in “customer delight,” but for the way you organize your cost and profit centers.
So, I’m offering to help YOU make ME your first priority.
My Advice
Point 1: I am a whole person who has a whole experience, not separate experiences of the doctor, the sutures, the hospital etc.
So I find it confusing when you send separate bills for
- the sutures
- the doctor
- the hospital
When I pay a bill, I think of myself has having paid THE bill, so when the second and third bills arrive I’m flummoxed. It’s possible that I am a simpleton, but that is neither here nor there, as you claim, without qualification, that I am your first priority. So please send me one bill for the one me that has one medical experience.
You will save a tree (maybe a forest) and the cost of several postage stamps.
Point 2: I’m not going to pay the bill until I know what the health insurance covered, so you don’t need to send me one bill prior to their payment, and another more confusing one after their payment.
You will save another stamp and another forest.
Point 3: I am more likely to pay a bill that I understand and to do so faster.
Just think “accrued interest.” You also save another stamp and another forest because you don’t have to send me multiple for bills.
Point 4: I won’t have to call your billing department.
You can downsize and save money.
Your Choice
Operational efficiency and customer delight are different and competing strategies. You can’t maximize both simultaneously.
If you declare that you are a customer focused company, then customer service should not be an add on to make up for the real fact that you are maximizing operational efficiencies. Throwing customers a bone to pick and a department with whom to pick it does not equal good customer service. Training low paid employees to empathize after you’ve delivered bad service is not customer service. It is complaint resolution.
Good customer service, the kind that delights real customers, is designed into all the decisions you make about organization design, culture and processes.
P.S.
Dear medical provider, please send an aspirin with your next bill, and another for the bill you send for the aspirin.