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Hospital Earns Customer Service Distinction

Posted on: Wednesday, 5 October 2005, 00:00 CDT

By Jonathan Maze, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

Oct. 4--For years, East Cooper Regional Medical Center's own surveys found that it was among the top hospitals in the Tenet Healthcare system for customer service.

Now, somebody else agrees.

California-based marketing firm J.D. Power and Associates gave the 100-bed Mount Pleasant hospital its "Distinguished Hospital" award for customer service.

It is the first hospital in South Carolina to receive the designation and the first among the 70 hospitals owned by Texas-based Tenet.

"We have been a five-star hospital by our own internal patient satisfaction surveys for some time," said Andrea Wozniak, East Cooper Regional's chief executive officer. "We wanted outside validation."

The survey results come as the East Cooper hospital is in the midst of a battle with rival Roper St. Francis Healthcare over the Mount Pleasant market. East Cooper has proposed to invest $160 million to replace its existing facility with a new 140-bed hospital nearby. Roper has proposed an 85-bed hospital north on Highway 17 near the new Wando High School.

Both facilities require state approval to be built. Community support is viewed as an important factor in that process.

As such, the hospitals have been taking their respective cases to Mount Pleasant residents.

A decision in the matter could come in January, though a likely legal battle could delay any construction much longer.

Wozniak said the timing of the J.D. Power announcement was coincidental; the hospital approached the company last fall about performing a survey. J.D. Power polls hospital patients every year on patient satisfaction, then establishes a series of standards.

Hospitals can then contract with the firm to survey their patients to determine how their customer service stacks up against those standards.

The surveys focus on five areas: dignity and respect, speed and efficiency, comfort, information and communication, and emotional support.

Hospitals are given an award if their results are among the top 20 percent. Steven Wood, executive director of J.D. Power's health care division, said East Cooper beat those figures by a "significant margin." The precise ranking was not available.

Wood said hospitals either request a survey or are approached by the company. About one-third of companies that ask for a survey don't make the grade, he said. About 35 or 40 hospitals a year earn the designation, which lasts a year.

While the surveys do not deal with quality of care, Wood said, the results are nevertheless meaningful for patients. He said good customer satisfaction means that patients are more likely to understand what doctors and nurses are doing, making patients more likely to comply with treatment.

"People don't look forward to coming to the hospital," Wood said. "Being able to deal with these issues in a clinical setting is an incredible accomplishment."

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.

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Source: The Post and Courier

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