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The Benchmark Email
...benchmarks, strategies and ideas for improving
your agency
A service of Fazzi Associates, Inc.
February 12, 2004
New Findings on Customer Service Programs
Question:
Our agency is considering a customer service program. I know it's is a
"nice" thing to do but is it really worth the time and money?
Answer:
Surprise! Surprise!
Surprise! Thanks to an analysis of Fazzi Associates' BestWorks™ National
Best Practice Management Service data, there is an incredible new finding
related to agencies who have initiated a customer service program.
Home
care customer service programs have always been designed to address three
customer groups:
-
patients
and family members,
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physicians, discharge planners and other referral sources, and of
course,
-
the staff of the agency.
The
goals related to these targeted customers groups are clear and measurable:
for patients, increased patient satisfaction as measured by national patient
satisfaction benchmark services! For referral sources, increased numbers
of referrals and referral sources as measured by agency admission statistics
by referral source! And, for staff, increased retention and commitment
as measured by staff turnover rates!
Studies
and reports by agencies found that when agencies were serious about implementing
a full customer service program, they were able to increase patient satisfaction,
increase referrals and decrease staff turnover. But, the question that
always remained was "what impact did customer service programs have
on the two most important outcome measures for home care agencies – financial
results and quality outcomes?"
Guess
what? It has an impact, an incredible impact. In a recent analysis of
over 200 agencies in Fazzi Associates' BestWorks™ Service, we found that
agencies who had initiated formal customer service training for staff
have significantly stronger quality outcomes and financial results compared
to those that had not implemented customer service training. Consider
the following:
| Measure |
Do
Not Use
CS Programs |
Use
CS Programs |
| All
Risk Adjusted OBQI Outcomes Index* |
-0.96 |
11.85 |
| Home
Health Compare Outcomes Index* |
-2.13 |
11.95 |
| Medicare
Profit Margins |
13.00% |
24.31% |
| Home
Health Profit Margins All Payors |
-5.80% |
9.55% |
| Agency
Profit Margin All Programs |
-2.28% |
8.53% |
*Note:
The values shown for the All Patients Risk Adjusted OBQI Outcomes and
the Home Health Compare Outcomes are based on an index created by Fazzi
Associates for comparing clinical quality of subscribers. The index
ranges in value from -100 to +100. A value of 0.00 represents average
performance.
As
we continue to review and analyze various aspects of these findings (like
which types of customer service programs have the greatest impact), we
will issue articles and additional information in the field's trade magazines.
For now, what is important to note is that agencies have new reasons to
consider implementing customer service programs….and clear benefits to
be gained.
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