Every month we run an excerpt from our editor's popular blog, The Empowered Healthcare Manager.

In the U.S., the reimbursements healthcare facilities receive from the government to care for Medicare patients are now tied to, among other quality indicators, patient-satisfaction survey results. That's really the wrong reason to put patients on a pedestal.

Your staff won't be motivated to master customer service skills in order to make their employer's ledger more black than red. That's not why they came to work for you and it won't work to motivate them.  Motivation to provide world-class customer service has to come from within, and should be easy to tease out. 

Before you challenge your staff to master customer service, ask yourself this question: What stands between my staff and delivering world-class customer service? 

• Do they know what it looks like? If not, it's time for a role-playing inservice.
• Do they feel patients don't notice? Share your satisfaction surveys.
• Do they see how you interact with customers? If they don't they should. Empowered managers model the behaviors they expect.
• Do they strive to match the lowest common denominator performed by the rest of your staff (and tolerated by you)? If so, someone has to lead them out of mediocrity. 
• Are individuals rewarded for going beyond their own personal norm? Reward, or at least recognize, everyone's "personal best."

Media partners puts out one of the best customer service videos in healthcare. It's expensive, but not as expensive as delivering mediocre service.

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