Does the name W. Edwards Deming ring a bell?  I encourage you to Google him. The late Dr. Deming is generally thought of as the father of the modern quality movement and the one person who, more than any other, helped make Japan the industrial force it is today after the destruction of World War II. He died about 20 years ago, but is still revered in Japan and worldwide by people interested in quality improvement. Among the many instructive things Dr. Deming said is, “A bad process will beat a good person every time.”

I mention this because a 2012 study revealed low patient satisfaction scores are often the result of non-physician factors like excessive wait times, parking and clinic appearance. Of course, there are exceptions and all elements of the system must work together to optimize the patient experience. I am not minimizing the physician’s role in patient satisfaction and, indeed, many experts tell us it is the most critical factor.  What I am saying is that long wait times, difficulty getting an appointment, messed up prescription refills and repeated tests lead patients to not want to return to our practice, not recommend our practice to friends and family and cause them to voice negative opinions about us on the Web for all to read.

Workflow optimization and a finely tuned patient experience not only please the patient, but the provider and the staff as well. A finely tuned clinic can increase throughput and RVU generation and makes the most of our expensive resources. Down with bad processes in 2013!