Access to Care
What are we measuring?
Bundled in the Access to Care score are the responses to the particular questions of:
- Ease of scheduling your appointment
- Courtesy of person who scheduled your appointment
- Our helpfulness on the telephone
- Our promptness in returning your phone calls
Score reflects the percent of time that patients answered “Very Good”.
Why is this important?
Responses to these questions help us understand your access and our responsiveness both before and after a visit. These measures provide insight into this unique part of the patient experience and combined with other satisfaction measures, help us identify opportunities for improvement.
What does our performance tell us?
The chart below shows how BIDMC's performance compares to a large national database as well as a custom comparative database of other ‘like’ academic medical centers in the eastern U.S. Look for big differences in the scores. Small differences may not be statistically significant.
Source of comparison data: Press Ganey National Database Participants (n=602 sites) and Press Ganey Custom Comparative Database Participants (n=67 sites)
View our performance over time.
At BIDMC, 3,200 patients responded to the survey during the 1st Quarter of FY10 period and 67% of them responded “very good” when asked to comment on their satisfaction of Access to Care. A custom comparative database of ‘like’ academic medical centers in the eastern U.S. reports that 66% of patients respond “very good” to the same questions during the same period. A national database reports that 68% of patients respond “very good” to the same questions during the same time period.
What we are doing to improve
BIDMC continues to expand its program for ambulatory practices to improve the quality, courtesy, helpfulness and promptness of telephone and waiting room staff. By engaging a team of “mystery shoppers”, we provide prompt feedback to our staff to improve their responsiveness and ability to provide efficient and patient-focused assistance at every interaction.
Mystery shopping data has also been used to measure and improve appointment wait times. Participating practices have reduced wait times by 10 business days since the inception of the program and now routinely offer care within a week.
In addition, BIDMC recently launched a program designed to support front line employees. Ambulatory managers selected customer service “stars” to participate in a year-long program. Participants in the Champions program will share best practices across departments, identify barriers to providing excellent service, and partner with their manager to drive forward service improvement efforts.
Other useful specific services measures
Last updated: February 16, 2010
