Kristie Loescher, Ph.D., academic director of the Health Care Innovation Initiative, teaches a course called Healthcare System Management at the McCombs School of Business. In this course, and throughout a semester-long consulting project, students are introduced to the business ecosystem of the U.S. health care industry to investigate the business structures, processes and outcomes of health services in America.
This post was authored by Clarke Benson, Mili Jhaveri, Megan Lopez-Lin, Lakshita Oswal and Anastasia Podtynnaya, University of Texas students who completed Loeschner’s course.
Our team had the unique opportunity to work alongside the Back and Neck Pain Center within the Musculoskeletal Institute at UT Health Austin. The center focuses on providing comprehensive care for patients through a multidisciplinary team that explores all treatment options to achieve the best health outcomes for patients.
Patients at the center receive care from doctors, health professional specialists, physical therapists providers and behavioral health experts. These varying teams aim to address the root cause of pain, and they rarely require the use of invasive procedures.
To gauge patient response to this care approach, the center receives survey feedback. Our team performed a qualitative review of data that expressed patient confusion about the treatment model, which we then used to recommend interventions that better educate patients.
We began by examining patient comments from the last three years. We also held conversations with Mark Queralt, the center’s clinical director and an assistant professor in Dell Med’s neurology department, about the role that various providers play within the center. Additionally, he took us on a site tour and walked us through the clinical experience so that we could put ourselves in the shoes of patients. Three critical themes emerged from this process.
First, there is a disconnect between the center’s mission and patient expectations. Many patients felt upset if they left an appointment without a prescription. We recommended updating the center’s description on Google and their website to include a mission statement explaining their multidisciplinary approach. We also recommended creating a welcome video narrated by the providers. This way, patients could develop a baseline understanding of the center’s mission before their appointment.
Second, patients did not seem to understand the care team model and were frustrated when they saw a physical therapist or chiropractor instead of a physician. To address this, we recommended that a slideshow be played on monitors in the reception area. These slides would introduce different members of the team and further the message that everyone is equally qualified and collaborates for the patient’s benefit.
We also suggested the addition of a receptionist to center’s staff. By training this individual on the care team model, they would clear up patient misconceptions and contact dissatisfied patients to provide service recovery.
Third, we found that only a small percentage of patients completed the feedback form. To improve the response rate, we recommended that the center incentivize patients with motivators such as gift card raffles or free parking vouchers. We also suggested allocating time for patients to give verbal feedback at the end of their appointment.
This project taught us how expectations can greatly affect patient satisfaction and how the level of care provided is not the only factor. We learned to think critically about stakeholders in health care systems and communicate professionally with health care providers.
We are incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have observed such passionate providers and an innovative model in action. We would especially like to thank Queralt and the rest of the team for their continuous support in our research and for serving as examples of everything health care providers should strive to be.