Communication In Health Care

Communication refers to the degree to which the patient heard, kept informed through understandable terms, afforded social interaction, and time during consultation and provided psychological and non-technical information (Tucker, 2002). If communication is good, which includes information from the service provider to the patient on the type of care he or she will receive, uncertainty is alleviated that will increase the patient’s awareness and sensitivity of what to expect, then patient satisfaction is higher (Andaleeb, 1988).
Dissatisfied patients cost a healthcare system in three ways: first is the financial outlay to manage each complaint, second is the impact of every unhappy patient on other people who might use their services and last the lifetime value of the patient (Jensen, et al.
In the study done by Kessler, D. and Mylod D. in 2011, it showed a statistically significant link between patient satisfaction and loyalty. The true cost of a patient complaint was described as every disappointed patient who complains represents six others, who are also unhappy about a similar experience but have not complained, thus every complaint represents seven unhappy patients. Each unhappy patient tells eight to ten other people about the unhappy experience; making it 63 people who now know the unhappy experience. One fourth of these 63 people or 16 people will choose not to go to that facility. In checking the lost revenue per type of complaint we do 16 patients x $500/patient x 5 lifetime visits = $40,000. In handling an average complaint would cost $400 that is comprised of $100 for the physician time for record review and follow-up with the patient that will take at least an hour, $50 for the medical director review that will take at least 30 minutes, $8 for the medical records pulling and copying the chart that will take at least 30 minutes, $20 for the business office copying bills, explanation and rebilling that will take at least 30 minutes, $10 for the