How Does Patient Experience Impact Patient Satisfaction Scores?

Any one of us who has been to a doctor’s office, urgent care, walk-in clinic, or hospital will have an opinion about the care we receive, the environment where we receive it, and the provider(s) overseeing it. What does a patient’s opinion mean for a care provider or care facility? Well, it can mean a lot, in some cases. The patient experience is very human at its core, and a measurement of how that patient felt while seeking care. It is recognized as a critical component, along with clinical effectiveness and patient safety, of health care quality (1). How does the patient experience impact a provider or facilities patient satisfaction scores? Simply put, that experience translates to survey results, the same way a website customer’s experience impacts a company’s net promoter scores. And, most importantly, patient satisfaction scores impact how care providers or facilities get reimbursed by some payors (2).

How Can Point-of-Care Diagnostics Influence Patient Experience?

In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic patients are venturing out to see their doctors more and more, making the in-office patient experience a renewed priority. Approximately 64% of patients still prefer in-person visits with their doctor over telehealth or alternative healthcare settings (3). Most healthy patients will have only two reasons to see their doctors, annual wellness screenings or sick visits. Both occasions will often include some form of clinical laboratory testing.

Now, dear reader, here is an exercise for you: Imagine you are not feeling well and need to visit your doctor to determine the source of your illness and best course of treatment. You drive to the appointment, sit in the waiting room, are called back and sit in the exam room, all while not feeling very well. Now your doctor comes in to examine you and needs to test to determine your illness. Which would you prefer when you’re not well, a quick test in the office that sends you home with results and treatment, or to be sent elsewhere for testing and must wait for your results and treatment? What type of experience did you have in each scenario? Which one is more likely to garner higher ratings from you on a patient satisfaction survey? This is the crux of how point-of-care diagnostics can improve the patient’s experience and the provider’s patient satisfaction scores. Mayo Clinic observed, in an article published by College of American Pathologists, that long waits, repeated sample collection, and difficulty obtaining test results can have a negative impact on a patient’s perception of their care experience (4), further supporting the benefit of point-of-care testing in-house.

The Non-Clinical Benefits of Point-of-Care Combo Testing for Flu/COVID Infections

We’ve established that patient experience feeds patient satisfaction scores, and patient satisfaction can impact reimbursement for care providers. We’ve established that point-of-care diagnostics, specifically when ill, can have a positive impact on the patient experience. Going one step further, let’s talk about the potential benefits of combo testing for common illnesses, like Flu A/B or SARS-CoV-2, as it relates to patient experience. Combo tests are a diagnostic test that can detect the presence of multiple pathogens in a single patient sample. In the case of Flu/COVID combo testing, a single patient sample can be used to detect and diagnose Flu and/or COVID at the same time. When a patient with common respiratory symptoms is seeking answers a combo test can provide them faster and with less discomfort that single-use tests. With that information, it could be inferred that the decreased discomfort and increased efficiency of a combo test might improve the overall patient experience. The wait time is shorter, the number of nasal swabs is reduced, the path to answers and treatment is faster.

References

1. Avni Y. Joshi, MD, MS: Priya Bansal, MD, Sandra Hong, MD and Theresa A. Bingemann, MD. The Role of Patient Satisfaction Scores in Clinical Care and Physician Wellness. [Online] October 2024.
2. Relias. Maximizing Healthcare Reimbursement Through Higher Patient Satisfaction Scores. [Online] January 8, 2024. https://www.relias.com/blog/healthcare-reimbursement-patient-satisfaction-scores.
3. Gittleson Zuppas Medical Realty The Pulse Blog. Office Visits vs. Telehealth: Why Most Patients Prefer In-Person. [Online] March 16, 2022. https://gzrealty.net/office-visits-vs-telehealth-why-most-patients-prefer-in-person/.
4. College of American Pathologists. How the Laboratory Drives Patient Satisfaction. [Online] 2024. https://info.cap.org/health-care-executives/downloads/CAP_IssuesBrief_PatientSatisfaction.pdf.