Customer Relationship Management and Patient Loyalty

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Customer Relationship Management and Patient Loyalty

Healthcare Organization and Management · Chapter 16: Healthcare Marketing: Customer Relations and Ethical ConsiderationsSection 16.1 · lesson 94 of 10511 min · free with a free account

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Earn 3 college credits for Healthcare Organization and ManagementRecommended for credit by NCCRS · Health 302 · self-paced · one payment, lifetime access
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In this lesson

Building patient loyalty through CRM, service recovery, and continuity of care.

  • Explain the strategy, process, and technology layers of customer relationship management
  • Distinguish patient satisfaction from loyalty and calculate a Net Promoter Score
  • Describe the four stages of service recovery
  • Identify the five drivers of patient loyalty and the ethical limits of retention

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Transcript

Everything said in the video, section by section (1,440 words). Read along, or search it.

Opening Case

Satisfied Patients Who Still Drop Out

Larkfield's outpatient cardiac rehab program has the best satisfaction scores in the hospital. Patients love the staff and the sessions. Yet every quarter, more of them stop coming before the twelve-week program ends. This quarter, nearly a third. Farah Siddiqui, the director of quality, brings the numbers to Colleen Lawson, who runs marketing and community relations. And the hospital has just bought a customer relationship management system to fix it. How can patients be satisfied, and still leave? And will the new system help?

Relationship Marketing

Continuity Is an Input to Care

Colleen starts with a distinction. Transaction marketing treats each exchange as complete. Relationship marketing treats it as one point in a continuing association, valued over time. Most industries moved toward relationships because winning a new customer usually costs more than keeping one. Health care is relational for a stronger reason: the service itself depends on the relationship. A clinician who knows a patient's history can do what a stranger can't. The record gains value with every contact, and a long-term condition is a sequence, not an event. Continuity isn't just pleasant. It's an input to the care.

Definition

Strategy, Process, Then Technology

Kenji Watanabe, the chief information officer, shows Colleen the new system. It's already flagged four hundred missed rehab sessions. Customer relationship management is coordinating every contact with the people you serve, so the hospital acts as one entity that remembers, not a set of departments that each start over. It has three layers, in a fixed order. Strategy first: which relationships to build, what to do differently for them, and what to fund. Process second: how contacts are handled, information passed on, and follow-up done. Technology third: the systems that hold the information and support the process. The classic failure flips the order. A system is bought to produce the strategy, and it produces a record nobody is responsible for acting on. Four hundred flags, and no owner.

Patient Journey

The Worst Moment Weighs Most

Take one patient. Arthur Delacroix, seven weeks after a heart attack, books his rehab sessions by phone, and waits on hold. He looks for parking, checks in, waits past his appointment time, exercises with the team, gets instructions, and weeks later receives a bill. Most of those contacts involve no clinician at all. The experience is largely produced by parts of the hospital that don't think of themselves as giving care. And experience isn't an average. One bad moment weighs most, especially when a patient is vulnerable, or at the end of an episode. Fix the mean, leave the worst point, and nothing changes.

Satisfaction vs. Loyalty

Net Promoter Score Explained

That answers part of the opening puzzle. Satisfaction is a judgment about an encounter that already happened. Loyalty is a disposition to return, and to recommend. A satisfied patient may still leave: access got harder, coverage changed, they moved, or nothing gave them a reason to stay. High satisfaction with rising lapses is no contradiction. It's two measures. One popular loyalty measure is the Net Promoter Score, from Fred Reichheld in two thousand three. People rate, from zero to ten, how likely they are to recommend you. Nines and tens are promoters. Zero through six are detractors. The score is the percent of promoters minus the percent of detractors. Its claimed link to growth is disputed. Rehab's last survey: two hundred replies, sixty percent promoters, fifteen percent detractors. Sixty minus fifteen gives a score of forty-five.

Standardized Surveys

Medicare's HCAHPS Hospital Survey

For hospital stays, Medicare runs its own standardized survey, called HCAHPS. Results have been publicly reported since two thousand eight. Its current version has thirty-two questions, including a zero-to-ten rating of the hospital and whether the patient would recommend it. Surveys allow comparison over time and against other hospitals. But they're limited by who answers.

Quick Check

Calculating a Clinic's Net Promoter Score

Quick check. Larkfield's physical therapy clinic gets eighty replies. Thirty-six give a nine or ten, twenty-eight give a seven or eight, and sixteen give six or lower. What's the clinic's score? Pause, and decide. Twenty-five. Thirty-six of eighty is forty-five percent promoters. Sixteen of eighty is twenty percent detractors. Forty-five minus twenty is twenty-five. Forty-five is tempting, but that's promoters alone. The score always subtracts the detractors, and the sevens and eights don't count either way.

Loyalty Drivers

Five Drivers a Manager Can Change

So what builds loyalty? Five drivers keep coming up, each with a practice a manager can change, and a measure to track it. Perceived competence: the record is there, the plan is followed, nobody asks the patient to repeat their story. Communication: time for questions, plain language, a written summary. Access: an appointment within the expected time, and a way to reach the team between visits. Continuity: the same clinician, or the same small team, across an episode. And respect: punctuality, privacy at the front desk, and the same treatment whoever the patient is. The evidence is associational, not experimental. But the drivers aren't substitutes. Great communication can't make up for poor access for very long.

Feedback Sources

Every Feedback Source Is Biased

Farah reminds Colleen that every feedback source is biased. Surveys suffer response bias: people with strong views answer more, and people facing barriers to care also face barriers to reporting. Complaints are unprompted and specific, but come mostly from people who know how to complain. Feedback gathered in the clinic is immediate, but patients hesitate to criticize while they still depend on it. No single source is enough. Agreement between them is what should raise confidence.

Service Recovery

Four Stages of Recovery

Then a letter arrives from Arthur. He was billed for six sessions his insurer should have covered. Registration had his old insurance on file. A patient who complains hasn't left yet. Most unhappy patients say nothing, and simply don't come back. The billing office apologized quickly and canceled the bill. But nobody told Arthur why it happened. That's where most recoveries stop. Recovery has four stages. Acknowledgment: we heard you, and it shouldn't have happened. Explanation: why it happened. Remedy: put right what can be put right. System change: fix the condition that caused it, and tell the person. Explanation is skipped most, usually from fear of liability, and without it, a remedy feels like buying silence.

Recovery Paradox

Real but Routinely Overclaimed

There's a well-known recovery paradox: a failure handled well can leave a customer more committed than if nothing had gone wrong. It's real, and routinely overclaimed. It needs a modest failure, a prompt and genuine recovery, and no repeat. In health care, where some harm can't be undone, it applies far more narrowly.

Quick Check

A Second Unexplained Wait

Quick check. A patient waits ninety minutes past her appointment with no word. The clinic apologizes, explains that an emergency case ran long, and gives her a parking voucher. Six weeks later, the same thing happens to her again. Which stage was missing? Pause, and decide. System change. Nothing was done about waits with no word, so the next delay played out exactly the same way. Explanation is tempting, because it's the stage skipped most often. But here the clinic did explain. What it never changed was the process that left her uninformed.

Two Cautions

Referrers and the Limits of Retention

Colleen adds two cautions. First, referring clinicians deserve the same discipline: a clear statement of what the program accepts, word that a referral arrived, a report back on time, and a named contact. Their version of a service failure is a referral that vanishes. Their version of recovery is finding out, and saying so. Second, retail loyalty techniques don't transfer unexamined. Keeping someone in a service no longer right for them, discouraging a second opinion, or using records to push unrequested services all cross a line. The goal of relationship work in health care is a patient who is well served, not a patient who is retained.

Resolution

Evening Sessions Fix an Access Problem

Back to cardiac rehab. Colleen and Kenji start with strategy. Most drop-outs happen in the first four weeks, so those patients come first. Process next: a named coordinator calls within a day of any missed session. Only then is the system set to send each alert to her. The calls explain the puzzle. Patients loved the sessions, but they ran only on weekday mornings, and many were going back to work. That's access, which satisfaction surveys never asked about. So the program adds evening sessions twice a week, and tracks the lapse rate, not just satisfaction.

Patient Outcome

Arthur Finishes All Twelve Weeks

And Arthur gets a letter that explains what went wrong, and what changed: insurance is now confirmed at every visit. He switches to an evening session, and finishes all twelve weeks.

Key Takeaways

Well Served, Not Just Retained

To recap. CRM is strategy first, then process, then technology. Satisfaction judges a visit. Loyalty is returning and recommending. Experience is shaped most by its worst point, often far from any clinician. Recovery has four stages, and most efforts stop at the remedy. And the goal is a patient well served, not just retained.

Reflection

The Moment That Decided a Return

Something to think about: in a service you've used, which single moment decided whether you went back?

About Healthcare Organization and Management at UPI Study

Healthcare Organization and Management (Health 302) is a self-paced online course of 105 video lessons in 18 chapters, from health systems and the law to ethics, leadership, teams, strategy, informatics, finance, quality, human resources, marketing and evidence-based practice. It carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits.

Every lesson transcript is free on pages like this one, and the videos are free with a free UPI Study account. Enrolling adds a practice quiz after each lesson, the graded work and final exam that earn the credit, lifetime access, and an official transcript on completion. UPI Study has helped over 130,000 students with college credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

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Why take it here

Why students take Healthcare Organization and Management with UPI Study

How hospitals and clinics are runHealthcare Organization and Management covers how care organizations are led and run: health law and ethics, leadership and teams, strategic planning, health informatics, budgets, quality improvement, staffing and marketing. It is a core course in healthcare administration and health management degrees.
Credit at a fraction of the priceThe same 3 credits can cost $750 or more at a US college. Here it is one payment, self-paced, with lifetime access.
Finish your degree soonerTransfer credits reduce the courses you still owe, so you can graduate earlier or lighten a heavy semester.
Strengthen an applicationA completed college-level course on an official transcript shows admissions and scholarship committees you can do the work.
Study on your own scheduleNo start dates, no deadlines. Watch the lessons, practice, and take the final when you are ready.
130,000+students helped with college creditsACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Where the credit goes

Universities that work with NCCRS

Healthcare Organization and Management carries a NCCRS credit recommendation. These universities work with NCCRS; some are UPI Study's signed partners. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.

Thomas Edison State UniversityThomas Edison State UniversitySigned partnerUniversity of the PeopleUniversity of the PeopleSigned partnerCharter Oak State CollegeCharter Oak State CollegeSigned partnerStrayer UniversityStrayer UniversitySigned partnerColumbia Southern UniversityColumbia Southern UniversitySigned partnerIndiana TechIndiana TechSigned partnerPenn StatePenn StateWorks with NCCRSSouthern New Hampshire UniversitySouthern New Hampshire UniversityWorks with NCCRSSUNYSUNYWorks with NCCRS +many more cooperating universitiesFind my college →

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FAQ

Questions students ask us

About Customer Relationship Management and Patient Loyalty

What is the difference between patient satisfaction and patient loyalty?
Satisfaction is a judgment about an encounter that already happened, while loyalty is a disposition to return and to recommend. A satisfied patient may still leave because access got harder, coverage changed, they moved, or nothing gave them a reason to stay. So high satisfaction scores alongside rising drop-out rates are not a contradiction; they are two different measures.
How is a Net Promoter Score calculated?
The Net Promoter Score is the percentage of promoters minus the percentage of detractors. Respondents rate from 0 to 10 how likely they are to recommend a service; 9s and 10s are promoters, 0 through 6 are detractors, and 7s and 8s count toward neither. For example, 45 percent promoters and 20 percent detractors give a score of 25. Fred Reichheld introduced the measure in 2003.
What are the stages of service recovery in health care?
Service recovery has four stages: acknowledgment that the problem happened and should not have, an explanation of why it happened, a remedy that puts right what can be put right, and a system change that fixes the cause, with the person told about it. Explanation is the stage most often skipped, and without it a remedy can feel like buying silence.
Why does buying CRM software often fail to improve patient retention?
Customer relationship management works in a fixed order: strategy first, then process, then technology. A classic failure is buying a system and expecting it to produce the strategy, which leaves a stream of alerts with no one responsible for acting on them. Deciding which relationships to build and who follows up, such as a named coordinator calling after a missed session, must come before the software is configured.

About the Healthcare Organization and Management course

How many college credits is Healthcare Organization and Management?
Healthcare Organization and Management (Health 302) carries a NCCRS credit recommendation for 3 semester credits. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities.
How much does Healthcare Organization and Management cost and what is included?
$250, paid once, with lifetime access: all 105 video lessons, a practice quiz after each, the graded work and final exam, and an official transcript when you finish. Students who want several courses choose UPI Study PRO instead.
Which universities accept UPI Study credits?
UPI Study has signed partner agreements with universities such as Thomas Edison State University, University of the People and Charter Oak State College, and works with universities such as Penn State, SNHU and SUNY. ACE and NCCRS have over 2,100 cooperating colleges that will consider accepting credits; the final decision is with the universities. Use "Find my college" on this page to check yours.
How long does Healthcare Organization and Management take?
It is self-paced with no deadlines. The 105 lessons total about 17 hours of video; most students add reading and practice time and finish in a few weeks to a few months, on their own schedule.
How are the exams done?
Quizzes and assignments are online in the course. The final exam is taken online with proctoring; a person on the UPI Study team checks assignments, usually within two days.
How do my credits reach my college?
When the course shows 100% complete, request the official transcript from your dashboard. It is sent to the college you name, and you can send it to more than one. Check your college first with "Find my college" on this page, or ask Athena.

Ready for the full course? Earn 3 credits in Healthcare Organization and Management.

105 video lessons, a quiz after each one, and the graded work that earns the credit. Recommended for credit by NCCRS.

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