5 Things Every Medicare Patient Should Know about Patient Satisfaction Surveys
Jun 26, 2023
Customer experience surveys from businesses like online artisan vendors (like Etsy), online apps and automotive service centers are quite common to most of us. Days or sometimes weeks after you’ve purchased a product or paid for a service, you’ve probably received an email or automated phone call asking you to rank your satisfaction and share your comments. Businesses have leaned on customer feedback to measure success, improve processes, retain customers and ultimately gain higher market share (more customers). Hospitals and Primary Care Providers (PCP) have also been conducting surveys for the same reasons. Additionally, insurance companies have started conducting their own separate surveys; patients with a Medicare Advantage Plan, like Humana Gold Plus or AARP, are a particularly important resource for patient satisfaction surveys.
While it may seem surprising, it certainly makes sense. Healthcare providers and insurance companies, like other service providers, are always working to improve the overall experience and keep patients happy. While your health and recovery are FMC’s (and insurance providers) number one priority, keeping patients happy and providing a pleasant experience has become a close second.
As Family Medical Clinic (FMC) patients with Medicare Advantage Plans, you could receive one or more surveys throughout the year that ask you to rate your experience with your most recent visit to your FMC provider. Chances are, for many, those surveys are a bit tedious, if not annoying. However, for your FMC provider and our entire practice, it's more important than ever for patients to not only participate in the surveys, but also to provide the highest possible score based on your in-office experience. One reason for the increased importance is to ensure you are receiving the best possible service from FMC, because we know you have choices when it comes to your healthcare. But another big reason for the importance might surprise you; providers like FMC must meet and maintain a certain score from all questions in these designated surveys in order to get appropriate compensation for your care. In other words, if you want your FMC provider to continue to be able to provide top notch care in your community, we need your help in not only completing these surveys but also providing the highest ranking possible when you’ve received great care.
To help you navigate the new world of patient satisfaction surveys, here are a five things you should know:
If you fill out a survey on your experience at a local restaurant, there’s a chance your feedback may never reach management. In fact, there’s a chance your survey won’t be read or considered at all. Patient satisfaction surveys, especially those from your primary Medicare Advantage Plan provider, are much different. A primary Medicare Advantage Plans reimbursement to your doctor’s office depends upon the satisfaction rate of its patients as measured by the survey. Typically, the surveys are automated (non-human, robo-calls), and are 12-15 questions total. Survey questions include questions regarding ease of getting an appointment, amount of time you waited in the office before seeing your doctor, and if your nurse/doctor discussed your current prescription medicines. Each insurance provider uses your scores from these surveys to grade your doctor’s office; these scores are carefully monitored by your doctor’s office as they are key indicators of satisfaction and maximum reimbursement for services. So if you are a FMC patient, we strongly encourage you to take these surveys seriously and as promptly as possible.
Some patients receive patient surveys a few days after being seen, but some may not receive a survey for a few weeks. In fact, because patients are chosen at random, there’s a chance you may not receive a survey at all. Patients may be contacted up to 6-8 weeks after being seen by your doctor. Though unlikely, patients could receive up to three surveys a year (1x every 4 months).
While every question from these surveys ask about specific topics discussed by either the intake nurse or your doctor, they may have nothing to do with the reason you visited your doctor. For instance, your doctor or nurse will ask you about if you have issues with balance or walking, need help with control of leaking of urine, and discuss your exercise level even if your visit is due to a sore throat. In fact, it may be hard to remember if/when these questions were asked because they are not necessarily related to the reason for your visit. These questions may even seem annoying to you at the time of your appointment, but both your doctor and your supplementary Medicare Advantage plan provider are interested in your holistic health profile at all times, including well and sick visits.
Medicare Advantage Plan surveys are not the only surveys that you may receive. Sometimes, your healthcare provider will follow up with a survey to gauge patient care operations to help us improve in-office experiences for all patients. Additionally, you may receive anonymous surveys about your provider that manages doctor and practice reputations for others looking for providers in the area. These could be used for google analytics to help rank doctors/providers to show during a google search; they could also be used to provide stars/rankings on websites like WebMD.com and HealthGrades.com.
Not all surveys are phone calls. Many surveys, especially directly from your doctor/provider, are text or emails. You always have the opportunity to opt-out of future surveys, but, we hope that you don’t. One of the greatest benefits of patient surveys, besides having the opportunity to share your opinion and experience, is you can help other patients’ choose a healthcare provider.
Patient satisfaction surveys are all meant to ensure your healthcare experiences are as productive and positive as possible. We hope to receive the highest possible scores on every question in every survey. If you feel that we’ve provided excellent service, please rank/grade/provide the highest percentage and/or number as possible. Each survey is different, so make sure that you understand the grading/ranking perimeters and if you can’t remember them, don’t be afraid to ask or have the grading perimeters repeated.
Though we strive to provide the very best primary care experience in our area, you may feel that we’ve fallen short during a visit. If you have feedback on how we could provide better service, or if we fail to meet your expectations in any way, we strongly encourage you to speak to the Practice Manager before you leave our office. We would prefer to receive timely, in-person feedback on how to better serve you, instead of waiting to hear it on a survey response or social media post. Most of the time, we have no way of knowing who provided specific negative feedback on a survey; because of that, we may not be able to address your specific issue and try to go above and beyond to improve your experience, even after the fact. Our Practice Manager, or equivalent, should be available to talk with you prior to leaving our office and would love the opportunity to improve your experience before you leave our office. Your feedback can not only improve your experience, but could also impact others patients’ experiences in the future.
Next time you come to FMC, notice the questions asked by the intake nurse (prior to your doctor entering your room) as well as the doctor/practitioner themselves. The wording of the questions, and possibly the questions themselves, may seem a bit odd, but we structure those questions to ensure we are providing the best care during your visit while meeting the needs (and questions) that the Medicare Advantage Plan providers expect us to provide you as well. Below is a current list of survey questions that your Medicare supplemental insurance provider will ask about your most recent visit, regardless of your reason for the visit, and compensate your FMC provider on: