As providers, office managers, and support staff, we all know firsthand that healthcare is complicated and that meeting the ever-changing needs of a diverse patient population isn’t easy. But I’d like to tell you about an initiative Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Rhode Island (BCBSRI) is engaged in that’s intended to address a key element of the triple aim: the patient experience.

Patient I Wants© is a program created by Help Me Health, LLC, and its CEO, award-winning author Randi Redmond Oster. The purpose of this dynamic, interactive program is to introduce participants to innovative tactics for rapidly implementing strategies that lead to patient-centric culture change. If we better align care delivery services with patient needs and expectations, a whole bunch of great things can happen … patient outcomes improve, patient satisfaction
scores increase, staff satisfaction increases, and greater financial efficiency is achieved, just to name a few.

BCBSRI first piloted Patient I Wants back in April with two of our systems of care partners. The response was so positive that we offered the 2½-hour workshops several times since (including to our own employees), and we plan to continue do so through early 2019. The training, which was attended by 30 to 50 participants at each session, centered around a table-sized, illustrated learning map that provided the backdrop for a patient “story" consisting of key messages delivered through a series of interactive activities.

At the heart of the program, as the name suggests, is educating participants so that they have a more comprehensive understanding of what patients actually want. Specifically, that they want to feel knowledgeable, supported and comfortable in their healthcare experience. Workshop attendees leave feeling empowered to make an impact, because they realize that they each have a “sphere of influence"—i.e. aspects of the patient experience they can influence and those that they can directly control.

As you might imagine, getting participants to that level of consciousness requires discussion, introspection and a willingness to honestly answer some tough questions, like: “Are you fully present when administering care and aware of what your patient is feeling and saying during the visit?" and “How do you react to patients who question your decisions or ask for additional perspective?"

Of course, the patient experience extends well beyond just the examining room—and those components are asked about, too. Examples might include questions like:

• “What’s the room temperature like in the office – is it too hot or cold?"
• “Do staff responsible for patient intake at the office make eye contact and project a professional, pleasant demeanor or are they simply asking for information and staring at their computer screen during the processing?"
• “Is there sufficient seating in the waiting room, and is it comfortable?"

The answers to these questions and others can go a long way in determining what kind of experience (good or bad) patients have. So we believe—and participant feedback from the training supports—that Patient I Wants has the potential to be a game changer in terms of raising providers’ awareness and IQ around patient experience.

Among the metrics we’ll be keeping an eye on to get an indication of the trainings effectiveness is the Clinical and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey, which, as you likely know, is conducted to both gauge and advance scientific understanding of patient experience with healthcare.

You’ll be hearing more about these results and what’s next with Patient I Wants in the months ahead, so please stay tuned. In the meantime, as always, we appreciate your efforts to help us make healthcare affordable and simple for our members and your patients, and we thank you for your continued support of our programs.

Gus Manocchia, M.D.
Executive Vice President
and Chief Medical Officer