Do you want great testimonials from medical tourists? Do you want stronger patient loyalty in internet chat rooms?

Here are 6 ways to improve a medical tourist’s satisfaction with your services and get you the testimonials that will set your brand apart from your competition.

A positive testimonial from former patients on your website or as part of your welcome package means more to new patients than probably anything you can say about your business or practice.

It is a form of word of mouth. And word of mouth is better than any advertisement you can have.

Testimonials for word of mouth and social media

A testimonial’s reach goes far beyond your website. It can be featured on your Facebook page. Each new testimonial can be tweeted, pinned, and otherwise shared on the web.

But your competitors know this too. Their testimonials – and yours – likely praise the good food, the pleasant customer service, the grand lobby, the spotlessly clean rooms, and friendly nurses.

You may be very pleased with testimonials like these but testimonials praising the treatment and care patients receive are much better.

So what else can you do so that your testimonials stand above all the others? What can you do that leads your patients to write glowing testimonials that reflect the excellent treatment and care you give them?

Care management matters

Fortunately, it is not hard to get patients write a great testimonial about their treatment or care. A new patient satisfaction survey by Catalyst Healthcare Research shows that most patients will be satisfied with just a few small extras that apply to medical travelers as much as they do to local patients.

These small things have to do with care management. Some of the suggestions identified in the survey may already be part of your routine. If they are not, consider adding them to your standard medical travel process.

1. Provide the medical tourist with a written treatment plan

Patients want to get a printed summary as they leave your clinic or hospital. Print out the diagnosis and recommended plan of action that they can read and consider later in the day after they return to the hotel.

2. Give the medical tourist a complete cost estimate

In the survey, more than 80 per cent of patients want to get a reliable estimate of the cost for a treatment or procedure.

3. Set up secure communications before the medical journey and after discharge

Medical travelers want and need a secure, private way to share medical records and to view test results. They also want to be confident that they are communicating in private with you.

4. Provide a personal contact for the medical traveler

When patients can send private messages to the doctor, or call in for assistance or with questions to someone they have met face-to-face, they feel a little more control over their own care.

5. Make eye contact with patients

Physicians and support staff shouldn’t be spending their time typing on a computer, shuffling through files, talking on the phone, or chatting with colleagues. By looking directly into the patient’s eyes, the patient feels no one else matters at this moment in time.

6. Actively listen

Let patients tell you what they think is the problem. Stop for a moment and think about what they are telling you. Immediately take action to solve the problem or call in a supervisor who can.

These are the little things you can do now that will matter a great deal to medical travelers.

You may also want to read:
Hospital Customer Service Doesn’t Guarantee Satisfaction
Implementing a Customer Service Strategy in a Hospital
Game Changing Customer Service for Hospitals