“After writing so many words over so many years, I thought there was nothing else to say about the benefits of concierge medicine,” said the author and Editor of Concierge Medicine Today. “That was until my family and kids weighed in on what they expect the healthcare experience to be for them in the years ahead. In a way, this is their story and we’re along for the ride.”

Concierge Medicine Today’s latest book, No More Waiting Rooms: A Customer Service Road Map to Help Remarkable Medical Offices Navigate Their Way Towards an Irresistible Practice Where Gratitude Is on Repeat, released April 12, 2024 and debuted in the Top 100 at #96 on n Amazon’s Best Sellers Rank “Work Life Balance In Business” List on April 20.

“Hospitality is a process, but the patient should never feel processed,” says Tetreault. “Unfortunately, that’s just how it is. We cannot accept that. This new customer service book (and a little marketing) is designed to inform doctors and medical office personnel about better preparing today to exceed patient expectations tomorrow. It will identify everyday healthcare customer service dilemmas and help you and your team navigate the switchbacks and speedbumps so you can lead the patient where you want them to go without that awkward feeling. The ultimate destination isn’t a satisfied patient. It’s a raving storyteller who leaves your practice feeling like ‘I feel cared for. I feel seen. I feel heard and I feel like they ALL care about me!'”

• Link to CMT Book Store: https://www.conciergemedicinetoday.net/shop
• Link to No More Waiting Rooms on Amazon: https://a.co/d/0deGwLyy

About the Book

Every patient will leave with a feeling about you and your practice. In today’s rushed and impersonal healthcare environment, patients’ feelings and subsequent actions and reactions are born from their experiences. Think about your last five online reviews. When the patient spent 27 minutes waiting in an empty seating area with no updates from the personnel who sat just ten feet away, gossiping about their coworkers and making endless phone calls, how does that make them feel? When the doctor kept forgetting their name, how did that experience make them feel?

Patients are burning out. I know this because I am a Patient. We all are. We’re feeling unwelcomed, disrespected, rushed, ignored, and undervalued. Most medical office leaders would blame it on bureaucracy, insurance hassles, and busyness and cross their arms, ignore the awkward feelings patients get, and move on with their day. Few are willing to try something different and make the patient feel like they’re at home here.

Fortunately, even science backs us up on this. According to Harvard professor Gerald Zaltman, “95% of purchase decision-making takes place in the subconscious mind”. So, in essence, our emotions drive purchasing behavior and our decision-making 95% of the time. This means that if you and your medical office team are not habitually paying attention to a patient’s feelings throughout the entire journey, from start to finish, patients will go elsewhere. Chances are they’ll find someone who pays attention to all the little details that make them feel a certain way about their healthcare beyond the doctor meeting their needs.

Let me be clear: this book does not advocate removing all waiting rooms from our healthcare culture. In many areas, they’re necessary. But we need to do more about addressing the small habits medical offices have become accustomed to under the business of busyness and hiding behind the excuse of “Well, that’s how we’ve always done it.” For patients in today’s healthcare culture, the most challenging part is not the actual waiting but when we feel that the medical staff and our Doctors have forgotten about us and don’t meet our expectations. We get a feeling when we’re on the other side of you and your team.

Like it or not, this is a marketing book, but not in the traditional sense. Old-school marketing tells customers (i.e., patients) that you control the message. Today, that theory doesn’t hold water. Today, new school marketing, especially in healthcare settings, says, “The customers (i.e., patients) inform others about you.”

Disclaimer: We’re still learning, too, so don’t confuse our passion with thinking that we have it all figured out. We don’t. We want to help design a map and send it back to a few in healthcare that are willing to follow. Check back often for this book’s updated version and bonus content!