Marketing researchers have found that the most satisfied customers are ones that have never

experienced a serious problem or product defect. The next most satisfied customers are those who have
experienced service difficulties—sometimes significant ones—that have been redressed by the
organization.

Mistakes are part of human life and their consequences. Sometimes a simple mistake can have such a
serious impact that can annihilate all good deeds. Especially in healthcare organizations where they
have to deal with the people who are already in trouble, even a simple mistake can have serious
consequences that can destroy years of reputation. In this sector, negative reviews can also be
financially detrimental, as HCAHPS scores directly affect reimbursements. No matter how good hospital
employees are, they will make mistakes. That is why hospitals need to have recovery plans to gain
patients trust before they go home and reviews negatively. That is when healthcare service recovery
comes handy.

"When it comes to service recovery, there are three rules to keep in mind:

Do it right the first time.

Fix it properly if it ever fails.

Remember: There are no third chances."

Way to handle service recovery

In case of a service recovery encounter, patients believe that General Practitioners need to show
competence, friendliness and empathy in order to restore trust in them. General Practitioners should
also listen actively and do the appropriate checks in order to find the root cause of the problem.
“Health” was the main value sought by patients. This value is considered by patients to be the gateway
to moving on with their everyday lives and search the attainment of other values such as well-being,
belongingness, accomplishment and self-realization. Moreover, respondents would like to gain
knowledge about their disease in order to prevent them in the future and to have some sense of control
over the decision of the treatment. Patients also want a more active role in the medical (service
recovery) encounter, which calls for a more shared approach by General Practitioners in the interaction
with their patients

Complaint Management Process Step Actions to Take

 Let your staff know that complaints are valued and

essential for QI.
1. Encourage use of complaints as a QI tool
 Display complaints in public areas to reinforce the
value you place on them.
 Make it easy for customers and staff to complain.

2. Establish a team of people to respond to
complaints
 Include in the team people from the front lines as
well as senior management.
 Use this team to develop planned protocols for
service recovery for your most common service
failures.

3. Resolve customer problems quickly and
effectively
 Commit the organization to resolving complaints
quickly to avoid the waste of repeated contacts.
 Train and empower frontline employees to resolve
problems and give them the authority to fix
problems on the spot.

4. Develop a complaint database  Develop a computerized database that catalogs

complaints by CAHPS composite or question.
 Use the database to identify trends and generate
regular reports to staff and management.

 Using complaint data, identify failure points that are

5. Commit to identifying failure points in the system
root causes of low satisfaction.
 Be proactive, not reactive; try to anticipate negative
situations from occurring in the first place.
 Complaint Management Process Step Actions to Take

6. Track trends and use information to improve  Stop handling problems one at a time as if they
service processes have never occurred before.

Five critical steps for effective service recovery

1. Understand patient expectations

Find out what promises they perceive your brand as making to them. And when things go wrong, ask,
How did we break that promise? How did we fail to live up to our customers’ expectations?

then you can begin to recover patient loyalty.

2. Give patients an easy way to voice their concerns and provide feedback

Service recovery is time-sensitive. For it to work, your staff must act fast. it’s so important for your
organization to hear patient concerns promptly. Getting feedback from patients in real time enhances
your understanding of service failures, and enables more timely responses to concerns. This way, issues
and concerns have a higher likelihood of being corrected while they’re still relevant to patients and their
families.

3. Embrace the process of empathy

L—Listen. This is the essential first step toward understanding. Attentive listening will show the patient
that your concern is genuine. And once in a while, it can be the last step, too: sometimes a dissatisfied
patient just needs to vent.

E—Empathize. It’s critical to verbally acknowledge patients’ feelings, and to validate them. Show them
that you believe that their concerns are both reasonable and important.

A—Apologize. This may be the most important step. A good apology must be sincere and start with “I.”
“We” apologies feel institutional, impersonal, and insincere. Remember that you’re not accepting
blame; you’re expressing regret for the problem. Patients appreciate that.
D—Deliver. Make amends. Offer solutions relevant to the problem. If you personally can’t fix the
problem, connect the patient with someone who can.

4. Provide staff with the ability to act

Autonomy also allows staff members to exercise creative problem-solving and critical thinking, which
helps them feel more invested in the service-recovery outcome.

5. Use patient feedback to improve

When you take feedback not only will you improve your business—you’ll also be showing that patients
that their opinions matter. That will strengthen the patients’ relationship with the organization, and
earn their loyalty and trust.