Service Quality in Health Care - Essay Example

? Services quality in health care   By   Introduction Service firms are likely to experience cases whereby customers are not satisfied with a service process or service outcome. Mistakes are bound to occur, and if they do, it is essential to try and restore the customer’s confidence. If customer complaints are not managed, then, customer defections, negative publicity and loss of share occur. This is particularly rampant in contact industries, such as retail banking and the health care industry. Therefore, service organizations have to look for means of eradicating negative effects posed by poor service (Gronroos, 2007, p. 24). This can be done in order to minimize negative customer assessments. Emergence of service recovery provides the most appropriate means to maintaining customer complaints thus helping to avert defections. Emphasis now has shifted to service recovery due to poor customer service. Poor customer service has the potential of leading to defections and loss of customer lifetime value. A negative customer experience may also of lower overall consumer satisfaction, permanently. It is vital to meet consumer expectations of quality service, for prolonged existence of the business. Customer ratings of service are crucial as they lead to customer satisfaction, and long-term loyalty (Roodurmun, 2010, p. 12). The success of a service recovery program is, therefore, determined by reclaiming disgruntled customers. Discussion The fundamental of service recovery is straightforward; it involves an organization taking measures aimed at recovering dissatisfied customers. This alters any negative attitude they might have and makes them satisfied customers. It also enables maintenance of business relationships with them (Bowen, 1999, p. 30). The importance of service recovery cannot be gainsaid. It is an excellent opportunity of turning an angry customer into a satisfied customer. The impact is extremely powerful because the satisfied client is more likely to broadcast the word around about the organization through the word of mouth. The word of mouth is a proven, powerful means of advertising (Cook, 2010, p. 56). It is ten times more powerful than the contemporary means of advertising; use of the mass media. It is also more than twenty times cheaper than the contemporary means of advertising. Therefore, it is a powerful means of getting referrals from customers (Berry & Parasuraman, 1991, p. 73). Service recovery provides an organization with an excellent opportunity to maintain competitive advantage over rivals. This is achieved when an organization turns an imminent defection into customer loyalty. One of the means of attaining this is through training the customer service department to provide superb service. This empowers the employees to make timely and responsive decisions that help to retain customer loyalty (Inghilleri, Solomon, & Schulze, 2010, p. 77). Consequently, this translates into more profits, satisfied customers and employees. The financial consequences of poor customer relations reveal the true potential of service delivery. Losing a customer translates into lost opportunities. If an organization lowers customer defections by 5 %, it is bound to boost profits by 30-85 %. Excellent service delivery translates into profits for the company. An outstanding example is the Amazon Company. During its first year in business, the company made sales worth $ 511,000. Eight years later, the company made sales worth $ 5.26 billion (Fisk, Grove & John, 2007, p. 63). The secret behind this numbers is the incredible service offered by Amazon. The company has been able to make achieve those numbers due to customer loyalty. On the other hand, if a customer receives poor service, and nothing is done about it, it is highly likely that the customer will bad mouth the organization. This has the effect of turning away potential customers, as well as turning away current customers. The case study below would to understand the importance service recovery (Hill, 2011, p. 54). A customer with the presidential press service travelled on the Singapore airlines. He was a regular who had no issue with the airlines all throughout the years. In a span of two weeks, the customer had some horrible experiences with the airline. On Bombay- Singapore flight, his seat’s leg rest could not extend at all. During that incident, the customer could not change seats because the raffles class on which he was travelling was full. The flight crew was indifferent and did not give much thought to his concern (Inghilleri, Solomon & Schulze 2010, p. 64). The flight crew also offered some mild apology after sometime. Two weeks later, the customer was back on the Singapore airlines again. This time, he was traveling to Beijing from Singapore. The seat and the in-flight entertainment had a malfunction. He noticed that the crew was nicer and did sincerely apologize. He was, however, concerned that the crew did not offer any further effort of service recovery. His experience with other airplanes such as the British Airways and the fly emirates was that there was a goodwill gesture, such as champagne bottle, or a kit with some freebies or discounts on future travels. He was so disappointing for the kind of service he had received. The disgruntled customer later blogged about the incident in a website. This is an example of a failed service recovery. Singapore airlines operate in a highly competitive market and should have been more worried of losing a regular customer. Therefore, an appreciable gift would be the first thing to give the disgruntled client who had on two occasions received poor service. Worse still, his interests were not taken care of. Experience with other airlines had proved that they took their customers more seriously and valued them. It is highly likely that the customer defected to the airlines in which he would be treated well. The fact that he blogged about the incident brings damaging publicity to the airlines. The disgruntled customer may also use other means to communicate their grievances (Leseure, 2010, p. 54). In light of the above case study, a number of proposals may be useful in the health care industry. The context under which health care organizations operate in today is quite complex. Revenues continue to shrink, and there is increased competition (Mattila, 2004, p. 74). In order to a curve a niche for themselves, health care organizations have to be highly innovative. The customer is highly informed and more demanding. One of the strategies to effective service recovery is complaint management. This would require an organization to have a program that identifies complaints, and rectifies them while offering their services. When an organization receives complaints from its customers, it offers a chance of tracking the complaints to resolve the unsatisfactory circumstances with the principal goal being continuous quality improvement. Complaint management involves encouraging customers to express their misgivings when they receive poor service (Hill & Hill, 2011, p. 102). This acts as a quality improvement tool. Another strategy involves taking responsibility for any mistakes. This is the basic and the first step towards service recovery. By, owning up to the mistake, it relives the customer that someone is taking care of their complaints, and a decisive action would be taken. It shows that the organization understands the customer well. This is the fundamental step in developing a customer retention program. Service leaders understand that it is their business to provide superior customer relations (Mattila, 2004, p. 87). They take time to select employees who would give excellent customer service and empower their employees. Service recovery has worked well in other industries and can replicate the same results in the health care industry. Health care organizations can use the information gathered from customer complains to improve on patient’s satisfaction and retain their patients. Dissatisfaction expressed by patients provides healthcare administrators and practitioners with an opportunity to improve on their deficiencies before they become too costly for the organization. Synergy can thus be developed, between the healthcare administrators and practitioners, to involve both parties in problem solving (Roodurmun, 2010. p. 22). This is cost-effective when we look at the resources spent in understanding, uncovering, solving and resolving patient complains. If health care organizations can focus on service recovery, then they stand a chance to benefit from patient loyalty, which translates into higher revenues (Inghilleri, Solomon, & Schulze, 2010, p. 65). Therefore, service recovery is like a customer retention scheme that can help organizations to establish a strong culture for the better (Zemke, Bacon, Pugh & Bell, 2000, p. 93). Health care industry is facing intense competition lately, and customer retention programs such as service recovery should be a welcome relief. With an excellent delivery, service recovery has the potential of leading to a higher market share. Studies show that in the health care industry, if there is a group of 100 patients who received a deficient service, 70 of them would not go back to the same health care facility. Out of the 100 customers, seventy-five of them would share their nasty experience with nine friends or relatives. This would lead to loss of four hundred and sixty five potential clients. On the other hand, if an organization averts customer defection, profits are bound to rise (La & Kandampully, 2005, p. 390). Complaint tracking system is another concept to service recovery in health care organizations. Use of close-ended questionnaires to gauge customer satisfaction is inadequate. It is essential to track customer complaints, in order to gauge an organization’s performance. This can be done through creating a team that would develop a means of coding and reporting complaints (Murley, 2000, p. 48). After the coding of complains is done, then the next logical step would be to generate reports. The frequency of generating reports depends on the organization. The reports maybe generated quarterly, annually or on a half-year basis. The specific departments mentioned in the complaint should be quoted in the report. This would enable tagging of the specific department involved. It also enables generation of findings that target the specific department or location. The complaints maybe divided along some specific lines, depending on the issue presented, such as communication, environment, payment, care and treatment and so forth (Christian, 2007, p. 38). The last concept involves resolving the customer complaints. Not all the complaints maybe directly controlled by the health care facility, but the administrators and caregivers can give their best (Clark & Malone, 2005, p. 234). This leads to improvement of the services under which they operate in. For instance, a health facility may come up with a program whereby patients who have been incorrectly billed are treated on discount in the next visit to the facility. Such a move is likely to maintain customer loyalty (Weun, Beatty & Jones, 2004, p. 89). In health organizations, the level of customer satisfaction affects a number of parameters, including health outcomes, decisions on whether or not to sue an organization following an unfavorable outcome, choice of health professionals and level of service utilization. An inquiry maybe conducted in order to determine the practices and procedures that require change. This would enable making of recommendations for strategies that can be used to reduce complaint rates. Handling customer complaints is essential in quality management programs. Handling of complaints is a better way of enhancing retention of customers with service problems (Trimarco-Beta, 2007, p. 27). Conclusion The context under which health care organizations operate in today is quite complex. Revenues continue to shrink, in the face of increased competition. In order to a curve a niche, health care organizations should consider using service recovery to gain competitive advantage over rivals. The customers are also highly informed, and more demanding. This calls for a mix of strategies that aim to manage customer complaints and offer quality service to clients (Cook, 2010, p. 94). The best practices to service recovery in health care organizations are embedded in the concept itself. The basic step would involve an organization taking responsibility for the mistake, apologizing to the customer and offering some form of compensation to the customer. This is the most effective means of showing the customer that the organization values them, and would like to continue doing business with them (Timm, 2002, p. 62). The second step involves appointing a team of representatives to deal with complaints. The third step involves resolving the issues in a quick manner. Then, a database maybe developed for taking all the complaints. The next step involves identifying the weakest links in the delivery of services. The last step involves tracking trends and using information to improve service processes. These basic steps would help a health care organization to manage customer complaints, and provide a means of tracking the complaints. When combined with training of the staff to deliver customer-oriented services, the fortunes of any health care organization are bound to turn around (Tuten, Cowles, & Brown, 1996, p. 37). Reference list Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1991). Marketing services. Detroit: Free Press. Berry, L. L., & Parasuraman, A. (1991). Marketing services: Competing through quality. Detroit: Free press. Bowen, D. (1999). Internal service recovery: developing a new construct. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 118-131. Chebat, J.-C., & Slusarczyk, W. (664-673). How emotions mediate the effects of perceived justice on loyalty in service recovery situations: an empirical study. Journal of business reserach, 2005. Christian Gronroos. (2007). 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The impact of service failure severity on service recovery evaluations andpost-recovery relationships. Journal of Services Marketing, 133-146. Zemke, R. (1995). Service recovery: Fixing borken customers . New York: Productivity free press . Zemke, R., Bacon, T. R., Pugh, D. G., & Bell, C. R. (2000). Knock Your Socks Off Service Recovery. New York : AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn. Read More