GEORGETOWN PHYSICIAN UPDATE
NEWSLETTER
July/August 2002 – Volume 1, Issue 4
The Lily Tomlin Lesson
By: Richard Goldberg, MD, Editor
Many years ago, comedienne Lily Tomlin used to perform a skit in which she played an operator for the telephone company. She'd repeatedly treated customers rudely and when they complained, she'd utter her now famous line: "We don't have to care, we're the phone company." This caricature was so popular because it rang true for so many phone-company users. Many years later, as telephone service became competitive-telephone customer-service improved.
The health-care industry has traveled a similar path as Ma Bell. Driven by business necessity, demands of managed care for better quality, cost, and service outcomes, and by providers' own commitment to customer service, organizations are looking to improve customer service at every opportunity.
Georgetown University Hospital is no exception. We have implemented a comprehensive service-excellence program with staying power. Called "Commitment to Caring," the initiative puts a particular focus on improved telephone responsiveness, call light responsiveness and reduced patient-waiting times-the key drivers to patient satisfaction. While our patient satisfaction scores already exceed the 90th percentile, our expectations are that these new service enhancements will improve these scores even more. In addition, we expect staff satisfaction to improve as pride in service excellence increases.
As all of us are well aware in health care, measuring customer satisfaction is no easy task. Our goal is to provide a structure to help Georgetown go beyond just measuring: to move from listening to responding to what our customers (patients, family members and physicians) really want. We will continue to roll out different components of our service-excellence program each quarter.
My expectations are that you and your patients will receive extraordinary service in every interaction at Georgetown. If this is not the case, please don't hesitate to contact me and let me know of your experience. I can be reached at (202) 444-2372.
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Jul/Aug 2002
