The relationship you have with your patient is undeniably important. Sometimes, the most challenging obstacle you may face as a physician is establishing a strong connection with your patient. A strong patient-provider relationship provides more meaningful learning opportunities to understand a patient’s unique health needs. This encourages providers to better connect with their patients and provide the treatment and resources to improve healthcare.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Patient Engagement
While clinical success is paramount, measuring the strength of the provider-patient bond through specific metrics allows ASCs to identify gaps in care. Key metrics include OASCAHPS results, treatment adherence rates, and patient retention. High patient engagement often correlates with reduced “no-show” rates and improved surgical outcomes.
Recent research highlights how empathy, effective communication, and trust significantly boost patient satisfaction, adherence, and even health outcomes, a reminder that investing in relationships can improve both care quality and business performance.
What Can ASCs Do Today to Improve the Provider-Patient Relationship?
Before implementing new communication tactics or outreach tools, it helps to understand the simple actions ASCs can take each day to make patients feel informed, respected, and supported. Minor improvements in how your team communicates, offers guidance, and responds to patient needs can create a more positive care experience from the very first interaction. These practical steps give ASCs clear opportunities to build trust and strengthen the provider-patient relationship.
1. Provide Personable Communication
At some point in your life, you may have been in the same position as your patient, receiving a diagnosis or undergoing a procedure. Your experiences may not be identical, but you can relate to how your patient feels and their questions and concerns. Patients often feel they are being judged; therefore, they hide parts of their medical history to avoid embarrassment. Sometimes patients aren’t as transparent because they fear their physician will scold them. Being personable and relatable builds trust in your relationship with your patients and encourages them to be truthful when discussing their health history.
This same level of personable communication should be applied to all patient communication channels, including the messages you send to your patients. Your patients are increasingly inundated with numerous robotic calls and generic messages from many different sources. They aren’t looking to receive another robot call or a non-specific message from their ASC. Your messages should make your patients feel more like people and less like boxes you can check off. Create customized messages for your patients when time permits. Even small details, such as addressing someone by name, can have a significant impact.
2. Listen Actively and Pay Attention to Non-Verbal Cues
In a fast-paced Ambulatory Surgery Center, the “first five minutes” are critical. Practice active listening by maintaining eye level with the patient and avoiding looking at a screen while they speak. This non-verbal validation signals that their concerns are your priority, significantly reducing patient anxiety before a procedure.
Research suggests that clinicians who sit down during a consultation are perceived by patients as spending significantly more time in the room than those who stand, even if the actual duration is the same. This “perception of presence” is a powerful tool in ASCs where throughput is high. When medical professionals spend sixty seconds of uninterrupted listening at the start of the encounter, they can capture the majority of the patient’s primary concerns.
3. Embrace New Communication Channels
There are many ways you can communicate with your patients. Mailing, email, and phone were once the primary channels for communicating with patients. Today, we constantly see patients with their mobile device(s), and many patients prefer digital options for at least some types of healthcare communication, though preferences vary by patient and message type. It is vital to embrace new ways of communication. Having a range of channels to reach your patients increases the likelihood that they will receive your message and respond. You may find it beneficial to ask your patient, “How do you prefer to be contacted?” Your surgery center team might be surprised by what they uncover.
Adopting additional channels such as secure patient portals, SMS or text-based check-ins, or mobile patient education systems can improve responsiveness and satisfaction. In an extensive study of over 3,000 patients, a survey of 3,289 patients across 103 hospitals found that higher perceived physician empathy was associated with better physician-patient relationship ratings, and that trust played a mediating role.
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Appointment reminders are generally permitted under HIPAA as part of treatment without authorization, and electronic communications are allowed if reasonable safeguards are in place; ASCs should still follow internal policy on what information is sent via SMS/email and document patient communication preferences when applicable. |
4. Be Transparent
Patients often feel more comfortable going in for their procedure when they know what to expect. Whichever communication channel you implement, your message must remain open, honest, and helpful to your patients. Patients want to avoid showing up on the date of service and learn that their procedure is canceled or that they have a payment due. They want to receive as much information as possible before they arrive, even as early as weeks prior. They may want to know:
- What should I expect on the day of the procedure?
- What is my financial responsibility?
- Can I eat before my procedure?
- What preparations do I need to make before the procedure?
- Do I need a ride home after the procedure?
These types of questions, among others, should be answered before the patient’s procedure. Providing individualized communication and being transparent about what your patients should and should not do will quickly improve their overall experience at your surgery center.
5. Leverage “Teach-Back” Methods
To ensure transparency has been effective, ask patients to explain the pre-op and post-op instructions back to you in their own words. This “teach-back” method identifies misunderstandings immediately and empowers the patient, fostering a sense of collaborative care rather than a one-way directive.
This approach transforms a one-way information dump into a verified loop of understanding, offering several key advantages:
- Immediate identification of knowledge gaps: This method pinpoints specific areas of confusion in real-time. Instead of wasting time reviewing the entire protocol, you can focus your energy on re-explaining the specific points where the patient’s understanding faltered.
- Anxiety mitigation: By framing the request as a check on your own communication, using phrases like “I want to be sure I’ve been clear”, the interaction feels like a supportive partnership rather than a lecture. This collaborative tone significantly lowers patient stress levels before a procedure.
- Enhanced protocol adherence: When patients vocalize instructions in their own words, the cognitive processing required for “encoding” the information increases. This leads to higher retention and a lower likelihood of critical errors, such as failing to follow NPO requirements.
To use this effectively, move away from closed-ended questions like “Do you understand?” which often prompt a polite but mostly inaccurate “yes.” Instead, utilize open-ended prompts that require a detailed response: “I want to ensure I’ve provided all the right information today. Could you walk me through your plan for the morning of your surgery, starting from when you first wake up?”
Additional Strategies to Strengthen the Provider-Patient Relationship Beyond the Basics
To deepen the provider-patient connection, ASCs can incorporate a few simple but impactful operational practices that support trust, comfort, and engagement.
- Create a predictable, calm environment: Reduce waiting times, streamline check-in, and improve comfort in pre-op areas to lower patient stress and build confidence in the care team.
- Use simple patient education tools: Provide brief videos, visual guides, or easy-to-read instructions to reinforce understanding and support patients with varying levels of health literacy.
- Introduce shared goal-setting: Collaborate with patients on recovery goals or preparatory steps, helping them feel like active partners in their care plan.
- Follow up consistently after procedures: Short check-ins strengthen trust, identify concerns early, and show patients that their well-being matters beyond the day of service.
- Invite feedback that drives improvement: Use patient insights to refine processes or materials. When patients see their feedback implemented, it strengthens their connection to your ASC.
These targeted strategies enhance the patient-provider relationship by improving comfort, clarity, and collaboration, making them valuable additions to any ASC’s workflow.
Why Strengthening the Patient-Provider Relationship Matters
Improving doctor-patient relationships is an evidence-based approach to better care outcomes. It can especially benefit vulnerable patients who face barriers like low health literacy or limited access. In such cases, strong communication and continuity of care help improve self-management and long-term health.
A good relationship with nurses and doctors may also reduce the likelihood of disputes or dissatisfaction: patients who trust their providers are more likely to disclose important information, cooperate with care, and stay engaged.
Start Connecting with Your Patients
Given the current staffing shortages affecting many ASCs, your front-office staff may find it challenging to communicate with patients in a personalized way due to limited bandwidth. With a patient engagement solution, you can equip your surgery center team with a powerful, easy way to communicate effectively with patients.
For ASCs that have already made the switch to an EHR, these tools integrate even more seamlessly, giving your team a single connected workflow from scheduling through post-op follow-up, rather than managing digital communication on top of a paper-based clinical process.
One of the best components of HST’s patient engagement solution is its customizable, automated 2-way patient texting capabilities, empowering your front-office staff with a manageable, scalable way to take your patient communication to the next level. If your ASC is ready to say goodbye to manual, impersonal patient communication, explore our patient engagement solution and discover how your surgery center team can leverage its customizable patient texting to strengthen patient relationships.
Don’t forget that digital communication preferences vary. Consider offering choices (e.g., portal, SMS, phone) and tailoring message frequency/content to patient preference and clinical appropriateness.
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