I'm Sorry to Hear That: Real Life Responses to Patients' 101 Most Common Complaints About Health Care

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From the patient's perspective, a complaint about healthcare or service is an urgent statement of fact. I am here where I don't want to be; I am frightened and unsure what will happen next; I put my trust in you, and now something is wrong; How can I be sure I will be okay?

When you respond to a patient's complaint, you are responding to the patient's sense of helplessness and anxiety. The service recovery scripts offered in this book can help you recover a patient's confidence in you and your organization.

I'm Sorry to Hear That... Real Life Responses to Patients' 101 Most Common Complaints About Health Care provides you with: More than 300 responses you can choose from when patients complain about billing, service quality, their environment, your colleagues and communication. A training resource for staff education programs. A fast way to help new staff members feel comfortable responding to complaints. A tangible tool provided to staff to demonstrate your organization's commitment to service excellence. Suggested wording that can be incorporated into written responses to patients. Ideas that you can use today to respond to the 101 most common complaints about health care. Authored by Susan Keane Baker and Leslie Bank

Susan Keane Baker is the author of Managing Patient Expectations: The Art of Finding and Keeping Loyal Patients. She has spoken on service quality for health care organizations and associations in 47 states. Her professional experience includes seventeen years in Vice President positions at hospitals in New York and Connecticut. For seven years, she directed the Quality Initiatives Program for a national PPO with 19 million members. She is a Commissioner on the Connecticut State Commission on Medicolegal Investigations. In 2008, Susan served as a member of the Board of Examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Leslie Bank is Director of Customer Service at Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, a large multi-hospital health care system where a service excellence philosophy is fostered and sustained. She has worked as a "change agent" for over three decades, always aiming at assuring the patient's voice is heard in all aspects of care. Leslie was named "The Mother of Patient Friendly Billing" after her experience in billing reform following a New York Times Op-Ed Editorial entitled: "My Golden Hernia." She has authored two commercial customer service videos and has received national awards for patient satisfaction improvement.