Presented at the 2013 AAPM Annual Meeting « Back

Can Chronic Pain Patients Ever Be Satisfied?: Customer Service Initiatives at an Interdisciplinary Pain Center

Edgar L. Ross, MD, elross@partners.org¹, Ilene Goldberg, MBA¹, Elizabeth Scanlan, RNC MSN¹, Robert N. Jamison, PhD¹, (1) Brigham and Women's Hospital, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts

Introduction: Chronic pain patients can be difficult to manage due to complicated medical and psychiatric comorbidities. They also frequently lodge complaints related to their treatment. This study focused on strategies designed to improve patient treatment satisfaction within a tertiary urban hospital-based pain management center. Methods: Information was obtained of monthly patient satisfaction and Press Ganey scores in FY2009 based on ratings of 1) staff and telephone access, 2) returned phone calls, 3) staff empathy and responsiveness, and 4) overall patient experience with their pain treatment. A customer service program designed to target patient phone access, response to phone calls, improved patient experiences, and service friendliness was initiated in March, 2010. The program included monthly meetings, email announcements, guest speakers, customer service trainers, staff incentives, review of survey satisfaction scores and a “secret shopper” program. Results: Three hundred patients were randomly contacted over a period of 2 years. Feedback resulted in a redesign of the phone service and development of interdisciplinary specialized work teams. Patient satisfaction scores rose from 83.2% in 2010 to 95.1% in FY2012. This score placed the center 2% above all hospital ambulatory practices. Phone abandonment rates decreased by 20% and the center scored 12% higher than average total practice scores in patient satisfaction based on secret shopper ratings. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that customer service initiatives that target specific improvements and engage all staff participation can effectively change the way pain patients are managed at an interdisciplinary anesthesia-based pain center and have significant benefit in improving patient satisfaction.

Funding: None.