IMPROVING CUSTOMER SATISFACTION Improving Customer Satisfaction through Patient Flow at Vila Health

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Introduction: Patient Satisfaction in the Healthcare Industry As a member of quality assurance department at Vila Health’s Independence Medical Center (IMC), I have been asked by the Director of Quality Management to create a report on the declining patient satisfaction at our hospital.In addition to the following findings, I will also present potential solutions or recommendations and a rationale for why these are relevant and valuable for us to pursue at IMC. In general, patient satisfaction is one of the most important factors in the healthcare industry, and it is a tool often used to measure the quality of service across healthcare settings. Moreover, patient satisfaction can have a profound effect on clinical outcomes, patient retention rates, and medical malpractice claims (Prakash, 2010). There is also a causal link between an organization's ability to be respectful of and responsive to the needs of its consumers and improvements in the quality and safety of the care that’s delivered, decreased costs, and increased provider satisfaction (Kros & Brown, 2013). Thus, to remain relevant in the industry, improve business operations, increase market share, and advance quality improvement efforts, organizations should always be focused on establishing patient safety and satisfaction as priorities. Furthermore, the organization that fails to give priority to patient satisfaction measures runs the risk of losing business and reimbursements from third-party payers such as insurance companies and government agencies (Prakash, 2010). Such reimbursements are tied to patient satisfaction, quality, and outcomes, so if an organization like our own wants to remain relevant in the larger healthcare industry, we must prioritize patient satisfaction within our quality improvement strategy