Blockchain in Patient Satisfaction

Patient satisfaction is not a clearly defined concept, although it is identified as an important quality outcome indicator to measure success of the services delivery system

There is no clear consensus between the literatures on how to define the concept of patient satisfaction in healthcare.

In Donabedian’s quality measurement model

A patient satisfaction is defined as patient-reported outcome measure while the structures and processes of care can be measured by patient-reported experiences

For everything in life we need some kind of metrics, some tools to measure the clinical outcome and the patient satisfaction. So to make up for it may I suggest we incorporate Tech enabled, Blockchain optimized patient feedback mechanism.

So what is the solution, how do we propose to go about it, well unlike Press Ganey & HCAHPS (the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems), Press Ganey has stated that a minimum of 30 survey responses is necessary to draw meaningful conclusions from the data it receives and that it will not stand behind statistical analysis when less than 30 responses are received.

If we all incorporate a blockchain Ecosystem & go truly real time in the patient feedback mechanism it would greatly enhance the whole patient experience and maybe help to manage solve some of the issues in real time. Wouldn’t it be just great if we incorporate Blockchain in the patient feedback loop, we wouldn’t have to wait for 30 odd surveys to be analyzed we could just go ahead and fix the situation right away if it warrants an action.

Another major issue is NO show and Missed Appointments

One study estimates, in US alone missed appointments cost US healthcare providers up to $150 billion a year.There have been instances that a Clinic loses money because of No Show and missed appointments.Patients not showing up can be costly to the health-care system. Offices lose out on revenue, and delaying care can lead to more expensive treatments later on.

“We very much believe it’s going to take a collaborative effort, and we think that this kind of technology integration is going to be a critical path for being successful in terms of breaking down those barriers for access to transportation for the patient community.” David Baga, CBO, Lyft
Allscripts, Lyft and few other companies have joined hands to address this problem. The companies said they hope working together will reduce the number of people who miss medical appointments because of transportation issues.

But interesting it was found in another study giving poor people free use of ridesharing services like Uber and Lyft for doctor appointments doesn’t make them any less likely to become no-shows than patients who have to find their own way there, a U.S. study suggests.

So what are we missing here, I believe incentivising ( tokens ) is the key and Blockchain could play a major role. Blockchain in itself is not a panacea for all things healthcare but it certainly holds the key to transform the current healthcare service delivery mechanism and make it more transparent and efficient.