Patient Satisfaction and Physician Referral Surveys

As the number of your patients receiving their care through some form of managed care increases, more of your attention is focused on making sure your practice continues to thrive in a managed care environment. Managed care plans evaluate your practice prior to and during your tenure as a network provider. Two key areas monitored by plans are patient satisfaction and your physician referral network. To assist your practice in measuring these two areas, Decosimo/FIS has developed a Patient Satisfaction Survey and a Physician Referral Survey. Our practice management team designs and administers your surveys, compiles and analyzes the data, and reports the results to you in a format suitable for presentation to managed care organizations.

Our Patient Satisfaction Survey will identify how your patients feel about your practice, including such areas as to whether they:

• Have prompt access to see a physician
• Receive courteous, helpful, and friendly assistance from your staff
• Receive a thorough exam by the doctor
• Have excessive waiting time in the reception area or exam room
• Have the physician's time and interest in their medical problem

Our Physician Referral Survey is especially valuable for specialists, whose success in a managed care setting is very closely linked to the ongoing referrals from fellow physicians. This survey will help your practice evaluate whether your referring physicians feel that:

• Your physicians are easily accessible by telephone or through your answering service
• Referred patients are seen timely
• Results of consults, diagnostic procedures and/or hospital procedures are communicated to them in a timely manner
• Appropriate levels of care and follow-up are provided

Deficiencies in these areas can often be easily corrected. However, without such information, problem areas go undetected. Both the Patient Satisfaction Survey and the Physician Referral Survey are valuable tools in seeing your practice through the eyes of the life blood of every medical group, your patients and referring colleagues.