Meet Kaweah Health Medical Group
With over 50 providers, Kaweah Health Medical Group is the largest physician-owned clinic in California’s southern valley. Since 1941, Kaweah has prioritized quality patient care, offering primary care and multi-specialty services including orthopedics, pediatrics, and plastic surgery, among others.
Kaweah recognizes the importance of treating patients holistically. Through specialized programs, such as The Wellness Center, Kaweah promotes healthy lifestyle choices while working to prevent chronic disease.
A Skewed Online Reputation
As the healthcare industry continues its reimbursement evolution from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance, Kaweah identified an opportunity to revitalize efforts to improve patient satisfaction.
However, despite multi-million dollar investments in modern facilities and operations, Kaweah discovered many patients only posted to review sites when dissatisfied, resulting in an unfairly skewed online reputation. HIPAA and privacy regulations made responding to these postings nearly impossible, and Kaweah was unsure of how to improve its online reputation on its own.
To encourage positive reviews and improve online ratings, Kaweah sought a partner who would help collect open and honest feedback from patients that more accurately captured the dedication of their care team.
Implementing an Automated Patient Satisfaction Solution
Kaweah contacted Providertech, having previously worked with them to conduct patient appointment reminders via text and voice message. Because Kaweah experienced positive results with Providertech’s team in the past, they were confident Providertech could help them improve online ratings that would reflect their patient-focused work.
Kaweah engaged Providertech to implement their advanced patient experience score solution, which would capture patient satisfaction and encourage positive online reviews.
Rather than waiting for patients to take the initiative and post about a positive experience online, Providertech’s patient experience solution automatically distributed patient surveys following their visit.
Using the 0-10 Net Promoter Scale® (NPS), Kaweah worked with Providertech’s patient outreach software to automatically send a text message to patients one week after their visit. The text message read:
“Based on your recent visit to Kaweah how likely would you be to recommend our clinic to a friend or colleague? Please respond with a number from 0 (not likely) to 10 (extremely likely).”
Patients who responded with a predetermined high experience score, such as a 9 or 10, automatically received links to review sites where they could share their positive experience with the public.
In contrast, patients who responded with a low experience score were automatically routed to Kaweah’s service management team for immediate follow-up. This allowed them to respond with timely service recovery with the opportunity to resolve the patient’s complaint and de-escalate a potential conflict while keeping the interaction offline.
Improved Online Reputation and Service Recovery
Within the first three months of using Providertech’s patient outreach software, Kaweah’s patient satisfaction improved significantly, as did their online reviews and ratings on popular sites such as Google and Yelp.
With an opportunity to correct both operational and clinical issues before patients post negative reviews online, Kaweah’s Google rating increased from 2.6 stars to 4.5 stars in just 90 days.
“In just three months of using Providertech’s patient satisfaction software, we noticed a 75% increase in Google Star Ratings, and 35 out of 36 of the reviews posted were five-star ratings.”
Rick Strid, CEO, Kaweah Health Medical Clinic
This 75% increase in Google Star ratings was attributed to the influx of patients who were motivated to leave online reviews following their visit as a result of being asked to do so.
In addition, 35 out of 36 of the reviews posted throughout the first three months were five-star ratings, since patients responding with high scores were automatically routed to reputation sites. This quick increase in online ratings for Kaweah’s providers and locations helped them to leave a good first impression online.
During the three month pilot, Kaweah also received fewer 1-star Google reviews than before launch, since patient scores below a predetermined threshold were sent to their service recovery team for immediate follow-up. With service recovery embedded in their workflow, Kaweah’s care team is able to address patient concerns before they are made public, which minimizes the volume of low online ratings they receive. And, regular escalation reports are reviewed frequently by the CEO to ensure quality service is a top priority at Kaweah.
Today, Kaweah maintains a high online review score of 4.6 stars as they continue to use Providertech’s patient experience solution. Achieving over 275 total reviews to-date, Kaweah now has an online reputation that is consistent with the performance of their healthcare practice. In addition, they consistently monitor and respond to meaningful data that allows them to continue making improvements to their business model and care delivery as they attract and retain patients.
By automating the collection of patient feedback, Kaweah is able to gather helpful patient perspectives that affirms or identifies areas of improvement for their practice. It also serves as a catalyst for more favorable online ratings on review sites that are representative of their commitment to quality care delivery.
To learn more about how Providertech can help you scale your patient outreach without expanding your care team, schedule a demo with an expert today.
