Patient satisfaction isn't just a nice-to-have anymore—it's make-or-break for retention, outcomes, and your competitive advantage. In this practical solo episode, Jill Steeley tackles one of the most powerful yet underutilized levers in healthcare: speed. Learn how to provide excellent, thorough, compassionate care while respecting your patients' time at every single touchpoint in their journey through your health center.

The Problem

A typical new patient experience:

• 8-10 minutes on hold to schedule an appointment
• Scheduled 3 weeks out
• Long check-in line upon arrival
• 30+ minutes past appointment time in waiting room
• Another 15 minutes waiting in exam room
• 10-minute visit with provider
• Standing in line again to check out and schedule follow-up

Result: Nearly 2 hours for a 20-minute appointment

The question: Are they coming back? Maybe if you're their only option. Are they recommending you? Probably not.

Key Topics Covered

Touchpoint 1: Scheduling the Appointment

The First Impression Problem

• You have 7 seconds to make a good first impression
• Long hold times send the message: "Your time is not our priority"
• First interaction sets expectations for everything that follows

Solutions:

• Online scheduling (the #1 must-have)

Patients book when convenient (11 PM, lunch breaks, weekends)

• Monitor and reduce hold times
• Implement callback systems
• Offer extended hours and weekend appointments

Touchpoint 2: Check-In Process

The Bottleneck Problem

• Long check-in lines snaking through waiting rooms
• Patients watching the clock tick past their appointment time
• Providers won't see "late" patients who've been standing in line

Solutions:

• Self-service kiosks - Patients are more sophisticated than we give them credit for
• Mobile check-in - From their car or waiting room via phone
• Advance paperwork - Email forms ahead of time for online completion
• Quality improvement frameworks
• Measure cycle times - Can't improve what you don't measure

Result: Some health centers cut check-in times in half just by rearranging workflows

Touchpoint 3: The Waiting Room Experience

What Patients Are Judging:

• Dirty floors and stained carpet
• Ripped chairs and dingy walls
• Overall feeling of welcome (or lack thereof)

The Reality: If your waiting room looks neglected, patients wonder what else you're neglecting

Essential Waiting Room Features:

• Plenty of comfortable seating (singles, benches, isolation chairs for sick patients)
• Wipeable, sanitizable chair materials
• Clean, well-maintained space (no stains, rips, or odors)
• Free WiFi (yes, even if providers object—patients want it)
• Wide walkways for wheelchairs and accessibility
• Digital displays with health tips, services, provider introductions

Controversial Take: Skip the coffee station

• Inevitably gets spilled
• Creates extra cleanup
• Becomes something to juggle when called back
• If you're moving patients quickly, it's unnecessary

Touchpoint 4: The Exam Room Wait

The Anxiety Factor

• Waiting in an exam room feels different than waiting in a waiting room
• Being forgotten in a paper gown is anxiety-inducing
• Patients literally don't know if everyone went home

Solutions:

• Maximize clinical support staff efficiency
• Medical assistants, dental assistants, nurses room and prep patients
• Take vitals, update medications, document chief complaint
• Prep materials before provider enters
• Provider only needs to talk to patient and provide care

• Pre-visit planning (the game changer)

• Provider team reviews schedule each morning
• Who's coming in? What do they need?
• Labs reviewed, refills queued, education materials printed
• Example: Mrs. Johnson's hospital follow-up is prepped before she arrive
• Shaves minutes off every appointment
• Keeps providers running on time

Touchpoint 5: Checkout Process

The Friction Problem

• Patients have already given you lots of their time
• They're eager to get back to work/home
• Now you're asking them to wait in another line
• It's frustrating and often completely unnecessary

The Solution: Make Checkout Optional

• Automate checkout process triggered at end of visit
• Technology integrator on staff
• Helps patients get set up on patient portal
• In waiting room or exam room
• Shows them how to review visit summary, treatment plan
• Schedule follow-ups, communicate with provider, pay bill
• Everything happens on their time from phone or computer
• Face-to-face checkout available but not required for those who prefer it (especially older patients)

Key Timestamps

• [00:01:00] - Introduction: Why speed matters for patient satisfaction
• [00:02:00] - The typical patient journey problem
• [00:04:00] - Tackling wait times systematically
• [00:05:00] - Touchpoint 1: Scheduling and first impressions
• [00:07:00] - Touchpoint 2: Check-in bottlenecks
• [00:11:00] - Touchpoint 3: Waiting room experience
• [00:14:00] - Touchpoint 4: Exam room efficiency
• [00:17:00] - Pre-visit planning strategies
• [00:18:00] - Touchpoint 5: Checkout automation
• [00:19:00] - Key takeaways and action steps
• [00:21:00] - How to measure and improve cycle times

The Big Takeaway

Speed IS your competitive advantage in healthcare

If your health center can provide the same quality of care in less time than your competition, you'll attract the segment of people who don't like to wait—which is most people.

But don't sacrifice quality for speed. This is about:

• Tightening up operations
• Improving workflows
• Eliminating waste
• Being intentional about respecting patient time at every touchpoint

How to Start Measuring Cycle Times

What to Measure:

• Time from initial call to scheduled appointment
• Hold time before call abandonment
• Check-in duration
• Average waiting room wait time
• Average exam room wait time

How to Measure:

• Use technology when available
• Manual tracking: person with log and stopwatch in waiting room

EHR data for exam room times

• Phone system data for hold/abandonment rates

Remember: You can't improve what you don't measure

Action Steps for Your Health Center

Immediate Wins:

1. Audit your current patient journey - Walk through as if you're a new patient
2. Identify your biggest bottleneck - Don't try to fix everything at once
3. Start measuring cycle times - Establish baselines
4. Review peak calling times - Adjust staffing accordingly
5. Assess your waiting room - Clean, comfortable, inviting?

Short-Term Improvements:

1. Implement online scheduling if you don't have it
2. Add callback system for phone calls
3. Create self-service check-in options
4. Start pre-visit planning meetings
5. Train staff on workflow efficiency

Long-Term Strategy:

1. Apply Lean or Six Sigma frameworks to all processes
2. Implement patient portal and technology integrator role
3. Automate checkout process
4. Make cycle time reduction part of your culture
5. Celebrate improvements and share data with staff

Cultural Shift Needed

Make it a team effort:

• Train staff to always look for ways to decrease wait times
• Make it part of your culture
• Celebrate improvements
• Share data (good and bad) with entire team
• Recognize that respecting patient time shows you value them

The message you send: When you respect patients' time, you're telling them they matter and you value them. That's how you build loyalty, improve satisfaction, and set yourself apart from competition.

Key Takeaways

✓ You have 7 seconds to make a good first impression—don't waste it with hold times

✓ Online scheduling is a must-have, not a nice-to-have

✓ Your waiting room appearance directly impacts patient perception of your entire organization

✓ Pre-visit planning is a game changer that saves minutes per appointment

✓ Checkout should be optional and automated through patient portal

✓ Speed and quality are not mutually exclusive—it's about eliminating waste, not cutting corners

✓ Measure cycle times at every touchpoint to identify where to start improving

✓ Clinical support staff should prep everything so providers only need to provide care

✓ Make wait time reduction part of your culture, not just a one-time initiative

✓ The segment of patients who hate waiting is most people—serve them well

Memorable Quotes

"You have about seven seconds to make a good first impression with a new patient or customer. Seven seconds."

"If your waiting room looks neglected, they're going to sit there and wonder what else you're neglecting."

"Have you ever been forgotten about in an exam room? I have. And it is not fun to poke your head out the door while you're in your little paper gown to see if someone is ever going to come see you."

"Speed can absolutely be your competitive advantage in healthcare. It goes a long way for your customer service."

"You can't improve what you don't measure."

"When you respect your patient's time, you are telling them they matter. You're telling them that you value them, and that is how you build their loyalty."

"Don't sacrifice quality for speed. What we're talking about is tightening up operations, improving workflows, eliminating waste in our workflows and being intentional about respecting your patient's time."

Real-World Examples from the Episode

Jill's Saturday Hours Success:

"When we started Saturday hours at my health center, everybody was afraid that they wouldn't get utilized, and it is one of the busiest days there today."

The Check-In Line Crisis:

"A while back I was visiting a health center to do strategic planning with them, and when I walked in the front door, the check-in line was literally snaked through the entire waiting room."

Jill's Rabies Shot Story:

"I got to go to an urgent care in town... I had to put my little paper gown on. 40 minutes later, I'm still sitting there in my little paper gown, wondering if everybody went home for the day, and I finally poked my head out and sure enough they had forgotten that I was in there."

Tools & Frameworks Mentioned

• Lean methodology for process improvement
• Six Sigma for eliminating bottlenecks
• Cycle time measurement across all touchpoints
• Pre-visit planning protocols
• Patient portal technology
• Online scheduling systems
• Self-service kiosks
• Mobile check-in options
• Callback queue systems
• Digital waiting room display

Resources

• Subscribe to weekly business tips at jillsteeley.com
• Take the Healthcare Leadership Style Quiz at jillsteeley.com
• Explore CEO Connect Bootcamp for operational improvement strategies
• Free resources available at jillsteeley.com

Next Steps

If this episode resonated with you:

1. Pick ONE touchpoint to improve this week
2. Start measuring your cycle times today
3. Share this episode with your operations team
4. Subscribe to Jill's weekly emails for more healthcare business tips
5. Review your patient journey from start to finish

Because when you respect your patients' time, you show them they matter—and that's how you win in healthcare.