Geisinger says refund program part of solving for population health

Geisinger Health System's plan to offer refunds for 'dissatisfied' surgery patients came out of extensive study on how to react when patients have bad experiences, the healthcare provider said. Now it's putting its faith in the ProvenExperience program and app to turn bad situations around.

"ProvenExperience is about delivering service excellence," Chanin Wendling, director of eHealth in Geisinger's Division of Applied Research and Clinical Informatics, said. "We want to make it as easy as possible for patients to provide feedback. Someone can always talk to a person on the phone or by email, but with all of these technologies we have the opportunity to utilize them."

In setting up the ProvenExperience app, through which patients can rate their experience, Geisinger established three impact groups – at its Danville and Wyoming Valley campuses and the practice office of Jonathan Slotkin, MD. The results were overwhelming clear: refunds weren't the most important feature of the app. Patients wanted to explain why they had a poor experience.

[Also: Geisinger Health System to give refunds up to $2,000 to unhappy patients]

In fact, many patients struggled with asking for a refund, especially when the majority of their experience was pleasant, but a small incident detracted from the overall encounter. Patients strictly wanted to ensure another family didn't endure the same negative circumstance.


After hearing these results, the refund portion was placed at the backend of the app. The sliding scale was added when patients showed difficulty in asking for a full refund, especially when the majority of the appointment was positive.

The app is currently limited to lumbar spine and bariatric surgery patients, in order to keep the focus group small. It's available in online app stores with an access code for these specific patients.

When using the app, patients are asked for reasons why their experience was poor, not to drill them, but to better understand their appointment from a patient perspective and to make improvements within the system.

"You trust us, and we put our trust in you," Wendling said. "When you ask for the amount, we go ahead and give it to you."

As Slotkin suggested, in many cases it's easier to get satisfied service from an online vendor than to get ahold of a doctor. "They're treating customers better than we care for patients," he said.

Geisinger sees the app as a way to positively change the way patients are treated, said Slotkin.

"The goal we strive for now is to have the best customer service. So I think our patients will benefit by being treated in all of the best ways like smart consumers," he said.

"Overwhelmingly, people are honest and the loyalty it grows from listening to their concerns and offering refunds for poor service, far outweighs those people that are dishonest," he said
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Right now, the project is still in pilot mode, while Geisgner researchers determine where to make improvements.

In the future, Wendling expects ProvenExperience will extend to include transparency, knowing the breakdown of payments and the copays involved with each appointment. They also hope this information can reach to all channels in their healthcare system.

"Technology makes it easier for the patients and as we receive concerns in electronic form, we can route them in different work pools to improve the system," she said.


Twitter: @HC_Finance