Affiliated Community Medical Centers

Determine the attitudes and perceptions of patients by performing a comprehensive study to identify patients' perceptions and general attitudes concerning their healthcare. In addition, the research identified patients' perceptions of advanced access, which was the new paradigm in the delivery of ambulatory care services.

Executive Summary

The physician attitude survey recently administered by the Southwest Marketing Advisory Center (SMAC) on behalf of the Affiliated Community Medical Centers (ACMC) reveals an overall high level of satisfaction with the services being provided by ACMC. Comparison of the three major areas served by ACMC reveals the highest level of satisfaction in Kandiyohi County with the lowest level of satisfaction in Lyon County.

The significant comparison occurs when evaluating the attitudes and perceptions of ACMC primary care patients with those expressed by non-ACMC patients living in the surveyed area. Typically, the responses by the non-ACMC patients were more positive on the factors measured than those offered by the ACMC patients.

There are several issues that can be addressed by ACMC to enhance the perceptions of their patient base as described in this report.

Conclusions

• The overall perception of the healthcare in the region is positive.
• The ACMC Kandiyohi respondents feel more strongly about their healthcare provider showing concern regarding health problems than did Redwood or Lyon County respondents.
• Around 53 percent of the non-ACMC respondents said they had received care above and beyond what was expected at their clinics, while ACMC had only 27 percent of their respondents indicate this level of satisfaction.
• The non-ACMC respondents ranked their clinics much higher in time efficiency when compared to the ACMC respondents' ranking of ACMC clinics.
• The respondents strongly prefer to see a doctor when compared to seeing a physician's assistant or a nurse practitioner.
• The level of primary care satisfaction is higher for those respondents who indicated that ACMC is not their primary care provider.
• Satisfaction is not 100 percent in any category for any respondent group.
• The accuracy of the results are within ± two percent, based on the level of variance found in the returned instruments and the percentage of the surveyed population returning the surveys.

Recommendations

• Do the “not so little things,“ (phone calls, spend the extra minute with a patient, and smiling).
• Analyze the internal operations of the Redwood and Lyon County clinics to increase the level of patient satisfaction to equal Kandiyohi respondents.
• Strive for excellence - Should not the goal always be set at 100% satisfaction?
• Begin the development of “smart card programs“ and various internet services to satisfy the younger generation of patients that will be demanding more of these services in the future.

This information along with a detail of findings section was all given to the client in the form of a written report. A PowerPoint report was also presented.