Data helps team boost service

Department: Health Information Management, Fresno Medical Center
Value Compass: Service
Problems: Lagging turnaround time for patient information requests and lack of staff courtesy in person and on the phone
Metric: Complaints tracked by Member Services, a customer satisfaction survey generated by the team, and incomplete request reports
SMART goal: To improve customer satisfaction from 84 percent in March 2011, per the staff-collected data, to 90 percent by the end of July 2011
Labor co-lead: Carla Duerksen, claims processor, SEIU UHW
Management co-lead: Isabel Lascano, manager
Small tests of change:

• Reviewed customer satisfaction survey responses with entire team at weekly meetings and huddles. “Everyone took ownership because of the comments,” which were both positive and negative, labor co-lead Duerksen says. “If they identified an employee by name and said (that person was) helpful…that reinforced that staff needed to be polite.”
• Moved disability clerk and her phone to the front desk, where she could better engage with customers and process their requests.
• Added a sign to direct members with disability questions and forms to one window.
• Provided restaurant-style pagers so patients needing to pick up records can wait comfortably or continue their business elsewhere in the facility.

Results: Customer service complaints from Member Services about lack of courtesy dropped to zero, while satisfaction results per the staff survey remained high.