Patients have options. More options than ever before. And when someone has a poor experience at one practice, they’re not just talking to their spouse about it over dinner anymore—they’re changing their provider and leaving reviews for hundreds of other potential patients to read.
The level of “service” has increased. Mediocre medical care isn’t enough anymore. Patients want the entire experience to be seamless from the first time they dial the phone until the last bill comes through in the mail. And practices that fail to recognize this are losing ground without any noise to their competition who have figured it out.
When the Phone Experience Sets the Stage
Here’s something most providers don’t consider: for a new patient, that first time they call your office is their first real interaction with your practice. Not your credentials featured on your website. Not the state-of-the-art equipment. The person answering the phone.
If that phone call goes to voicemail, you’re out even before they started (they may not even start because they won’t leave a message). If it rings three or four times and someone picks up sounding overwhelmed and rushed, you’ve lost credibility. People are using the first thirty seconds of that phone call to determine whether your office is organized, if they’ll be valued there, and whether this is where they want to get care moving forward.
The practices that are doing this well have figured out that ensuring phone coverage all day every day cannot be an afterthought. It’s not the least busy person in the office fielding phones. Instead, they’re bringing in My Mountain Mover virtual team solutions to ensure that phones are always answered by someone whose job purpose is patient-oriented communication—not someone who can only fit it between other responsibilities.
The Scheduling Issue No One Wants to Acknowledge
Let’s talk about available appointments because this is where many practices truly have no one to blame but themselves.
Many offices have antiquated ideas about scheduling. Someone calls, gets offered a couple of available appointments during usual business hours, and if nothing works, either they make it work or find another doctor. That was acceptable ten years ago. Today it’s not.
Patients want evening appointments. They want early morning slots before they go to work. They want Saturday options. And if your practice cannot provide any of that, you’re immediately excluding a huge percentage of patients who work nine-to-five jobs and cannot take off midday to get a check-up (hopefully).
You don’t need to open your practice for twelve hours a day to get it together; you need better systems in place. Some practices have shifted staff to virtual assistants who can accommodate scheduling inquiries when someone isn’t physically there. Others learn how better to block out their calendars based on what accommodations they’ll actually make. It doesn’t matter how it’s done—what matters is recognizing that rigid scheduling is costing you patients.
Nobody Likes Waiting (But Communication Makes It Palatable)
We all hate waiting rooms. That’s not news. But there’s a world of difference between a fifteen-minute wait accompanied by communicative updates and a forty-minute wait where no one says anything until someone finally walks out with an attitude behind the front desk because they’ve run out of time in their shift.
Patients will tolerate some waiting if they feel respected. They will not tolerate waiting rooms while they’re left wondering if they’ve been passed over with no one’s help since the people at the front desk seem unwilling to make eye contact. The practices nailing this part are actually communicating with patients, “Dr. Smith got called into an emergency and is about twenty minutes behind schedule if you’d like to reschedule or if you’d be okay waiting.”
That simple heads-up changes everything. It’s not about being perfect; it’s about treating adults like adults who deserve answers.
The same applies to times spent waiting on hold. If someone has been on hold for five minutes, they should be told something other than a thirty-second repeat of elevator music. Just letting them know that they haven’t been forgotten and someone will be there shortly makes the world of difference for small things like this. But over time, they add up to an abundance of ways a patient feels like they’re just another number instead of part of a valuable practice.
When Billing Is The Last Straw
Patients do not leave a practice primarily because of what they’re given in terms of medical care—generally speaking, they leave because dealing with the office becomes too frustrating. And billing is where that frustration spikes.
Practices losing patients over billing aren’t usually doing anything malicious—they’re just disorganized. Late bills with no explanation; staff who don’t know basic insurance questions; payment plans needing three calls to initiate; surprise fees no one mentions beforehand.
Conversely, practices that send timely itemized bills within a week; have billing staff who can talk about explanations in layman’s terms; recommend costs before procedures even begin; and make payments easily accessible through online options and payment plans—even if they’re basic—are all practices doing things right that aren’t budget-friendly or discount-happy, but instead, just transparently simple to avoid making patients jump through hoops just to give them money.
The Follow-Up Gap That Drives Everyone Crazy
Here’s what happens at many practices: test results come in, the doctor looks them over, files them, and… nothing. The patient sits at home hoping no news is good news or maybe their paperwork got lost in the shuffle. Three days later, they finally call the office, get put on hold, and finally, someone looks it up while on the spot calling another intern for help because no one knows where those forms are kept.
The practices doing this well close that loop before asking politely. Results are back and someone’s reaching out within twenty-four hours with a simple statement of “Your tests came back normal, Dr. Jones will discuss them at your next appointment” or “Dr. Jones would like to schedule an appointment with you so you two can discuss your results.”
That’s it! It takes two minutes! It saves the patient days of irrelevant anxiety and saves your staff unnecessary “just checking on my results” calls for the week.
The same applies to appointment reminders, prescription refills, referral reach outs—every gap in communication gives the patient an opportunity to feel forgotten or go to someone else who better keeps them informed.
What Actually Keeps Patients There
Listen—patients don’t always measure practices against checklists objectively; they’re operating emotionally based on how things feel. Does it feel like this practice has their act together? Does it feel like they care if I’m there? Does it help me by being easy or difficult?
Practices winning right now are those that value service quality as much as clinical quality and invest in better systems, better training, and better staffing opportunities so that patients consistently receive great experiences; those who recognize that if a patient waits eight minutes on hold or gets three different answers about their bill, it’s pointless how excellent the provider is—they’re going to seek out a different office that won’t make them pull their hair out first.
This isn’t about being fancy or throwing money down for things that don’t matter; it’s about consistent delivery of basics done well. Phones answered. Schedules flexible (when possible). Communication clear and concise without ambiguity. Billing straightforward every step of the way—this will keep patients returning as well as singing good praises through word-of-mouth referrals.