• From quality to experience

• From patient to patient/client

• A study of heart attack patients has shown that those patients with positive ratings respond better to treatment one year after leaving the hospital. (Fremont AM, Clearly PD, et al., J Gen Intern Med 2001)

• Patient experience is positively related to disease prevention and treatment as well. For example, diabetic patients show greater self-management skills and quality of life when they have positive interactions with their doctors. (Greenfield S, Kaplan HS et al., J Gen Intern Med 1988)

• Patient experience positively correlates with adherence to medical advice and treatment plans too. This is especially true among patients with chronic conditions, where a strong rapport between patient and physician is essential to achieving positive outcomes. (Beach MC, Keruly J et al., J Gen Intern Med 2006)

• A study estimated that drops in patients satisfaction affect the likelihood that a hospital would be sued in a medical malpractice lawsuit. (Fullam F, Garman AN, et al., Med Care 2009)

• Efforts to improve the patient experience also result in higher employee satisfaction, which reduces turnover. However, improving the experience of patients and their families requires improving work processes and systems. A focused effort to improve the patient experience at one hospital resulted in a 4.7% reduction in employee turnover. (Rave N, Geyer M, et al. J Ambul Care Manage 2003)

• The quality of the patient-hospital relationship is a key factor in patient loyalty; a study found that patients who reported poorer-quality relationships with their doctors were three times more likely to voluntarily change the their doctors than patients with higher-quality relationships. (Safran DG, Montgomery JE, et al., J Fam Pract 2001)

• Find out what the patient experience is.