It’s funny. Sometimes when you are creating a solution to one problem, you realize that an unintended benefit of that solution solves other problems. At Care Experience, we create solutions that utilize the voice of the patient to create actionable insights and to address operational challenges. What we learned is that in solving these operational challenges, we have created a repository of documented service recovery efforts that are useful for meeting accreditation standards, creating an audit trail and creating a better overall understanding of the patient journey.
Healthcare organizations are learning that just providing excellent care does not necessarily equate to meeting patient expectations. Accrediting board are taking note of the shift in patient consumerism too. The Joint Commission standards include the collection, response and documentation of complaints from hospital patients and their families. CMS allows seven days for resolution for the majority of complaints and up to twenty-one days for complex complaint resolution.
A Stanford study concluded that workflows for grievances should be standardized, that the data should be centralized and that leadership accountability can improve responsiveness to patients. Addressing these three area will help capture incidents more consistently, therefore increasing the likelihood of meeting the regulatory and accreditation requirements. The problem most health organizations face is the lack of standardized grievance workflows and a disparate data system which lead to a lack of leadership buy-in to improve the current processes.
At Care Experience, we have followed best practices that help organizations meet standards set by the Joint Commission. Our solutions are designed to help organizations across the care continuum. The same accreditation pressures on the patient experience and grievance process that exist in the inpatient hospitals are present in the ambulatory space as well. Accrediting bodies for medical groups, home health, specialty pharmacy, rehabilitation, among others, all are subject to these standards.
In addition to meeting these standards, building a history of interactions with a patient develops a patient journey map. By understanding these interactions over time, you can start to understand, or even predict, how a patient will interact with your organization in the future. By understanding the patient journey, you can then become more efficient in creating a more personalized care experience.
We introduce best practice workflows for proactive service recovery to help your organization achieve accreditation standards. Your organization will also benefit by having a filterable audit log of historical grievances. This organized, automated process will allow you to present your organization’s proactive approach to service recovery to the accrediting bodies.