(Originally published by FierceHealthcare)
Editor's Note: This is the third in a three-part series on leadership and operations that examines the power of front-line staff.
by Thomas Dahlborg
Recently, I have shared stories of how leadership not listening to front-line staff affects patients, staff and hospitals. From those examples I have highlighted some areas where input from the frontlines can be leveraged to improve the financial outcomes of your hospital, as well as the U.S. healthcare system.
Patient satisfaction and experience
- Patient experience is increasingly being tied to financial incentives, according to a study in the journal Quality Management in Healthcare. Moreover, the financial implications associated with the measured perceptions of how well physicians and nurses attend to, and provide information to, patients and their families are substantial.
- Good patient experience correlates with lower medical malpractice risk. In fact, for each drop in patient experience score along a five-step scale of "very good" to "very poor," the likelihood of being named in a malpractice suit increased by 21.7 percent, noted a brief form the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's "Aligning Forces for Quality."
What are other opportunities to engage front-line staff and improve the financial health of your institution? Read the full article at FierceHealthcare.