The gap between the promise and the practice is not a mystery. It is a training problem, a budget problem, and a priority problem. And the data makes clear that healthcare is losing patients because of it.

By Michael Tetreault, Editor-in-Chief
Concierge Medicine Today Est. 2007
The Industry’s Independent Trade Publication

Walk into almost any healthcare facility in the country and you will find some version of the same promise on the wall, the website, or the waiting room brochure: “Patient First.” It is on social media pages and postcards. It is in mission statements and strategic plans. It is, in many practices, the first thing a prospective patient reads and the last thing they actually experience.

What the Patient Satisfaction Data Actually Shows

A study by West Corporation (now Vonage/Enghouse) titled “Prioritizing the Patient Experience” found that 91% of Americans are likely to investigate other healthcare options when not completely satisfied with their current provider. Close to 88% say they would switch providers outright if not fully satisfied. And 74% of dissatisfied patients admit they will put off scheduling appointments — a behavior with measurable downstream consequences for chronic disease management and preventive care.¹

A separate analysis found that patients dissatisfied with their experience are four times more likely to leave a practice, and that 69% of healthcare consumers will switch providers when communications do not meet their expectations.² Meanwhile, 73% of patients check online reviews before choosing a provider — meaning that the experience a patient has in your office today shapes the perception of your practice for the patient who walks in six months from now.²

These are not soft metrics. The financial consequences of a dissatisfied patient population compound rapidly. Patient retention, referrals, online reputation, and the practice’s ability to attract new patients are all downstream of the experience a patient has before, during, and after their interaction with your staff.

The Hospitality Industry Spends $1,200 to $6,000 Per Employee on Service Training. Healthcare Spends Far Less.

The hospitality industry — hotels, restaurants, and related businesses — invests seriously in customer service training. According to the 2024 Opus Hospitality Training 360 Report, which surveyed hospitality businesses across the United States, organizations budget between $1,200 for hourly roles and $6,000 for general managers in annual training spend, with 63% of respondents reporting they had increased their training investment in recent years.³

The hospitality industry makes this investment for a straightforward reason: service is the product. A guest who has a poor experience will leave and not come back, and will likely tell others. The industry treats customer service training as an operational necessity, not a discretionary line item.

Healthcare, by contrast, invests a fraction of that amount. Small medical offices typically spend between $200 and $500 per employee on customer service training annually, according to data from Business.com — and that figure covers all formats of training, from online modules to in-person sessions.⁴ The 2024 Opus report identified the three top training priorities in hospitality for 2024 as management and leadership (80%), customer service (60%), and interpersonal skills (45%).³ In most medical offices, formal customer service training rarely appears on the priority list at all.

What Customer Service Training Actually Costs — and What It Returns

The range of available customer service training options is wider than most practice owners realize, and the entry point is lower than the investment gap would suggest. According to Business.com, costs break down roughly as follows:⁴

Training materials: $100 to $1,000 per purchase.

Online on-demand video courses: As little as $10 per employee.

Customer service software: $80 to $1,000 depending on specialization.

Virtual training with a live instructor: $1,500 for up to six participants; $2,250 for up to 24.

Full-day onsite in-person training: $500 to $1,500 per employee.

For perspective, outside of healthcare, small businesses in consumer-facing industries typically budget 1% to 3% of payroll toward employee training, according to Deel.com. A practice with five administrative staff earning $40,000 each would be looking at $2,000 to $6,000 annually — less than the cost of a single no-show patient day, and a fraction of what a single negative online review can cost in lost new patient referrals.

The Real Problem: Patients Are Consumers. Most Practices Don’t Train for That.

Outside of your exam room, your patients are parents, professionals, and discerning consumers. They are being served well in almost every other part of their lives — by apps that remember their preferences, retailers that resolve issues instantly, and restaurants that make a reservation feel personal. Then they walk into a medical office.

Current practice norms often limit physician-patient interactions to brief intervals, creating a depersonalized experience that leaves patients feeling processed rather than cared for. But the experience a patient has with your front desk staff, your phone system, and your billing team shapes their perception of your practice long before — and long after — the physician enters the room.

According to Practice Builders, 51% of patients would switch to a new healthcare provider specifically to receive better customer service.⁵ That is not a clinical outcome metric. It is a hospitality metric. And most practices are not training for it.

The patient experience is the story that shapes perception of your brand in your community. Patients who feel seen, welcomed, and respected become your most effective marketing channel. Patients who feel processed, rushed, or ignored become your most effective detractors — and they are far more likely to share that experience online than a satisfied patient is to share a positive one.

Where to Start

The practices that are getting this right are not spending extravagantly. They are spending intentionally. A few concrete starting points:

Audit your current patient touchpoints. Listen to recorded phone calls. Sit in on check-in interactions. Ask a trusted friend to call your practice as a mystery patient. You will learn something actionable within the first hour.

Send your team to customer service training outside of healthcare. Hospitality, retail, and service industry training seminars offer practical, proven frameworks that healthcare staff rarely encounter — and they bring a perspective your patients already have.

Budget for it explicitly. Customer service training should be a named line item in your annual budget, not a leftover from continuing education funds. Even $500 per employee annually represents a meaningful signal to your team that the patient experience is a practice priority.

Measure it. Patient satisfaction surveys, online review monitoring, and phone audit scores are all available and relatively inexpensive. What gets measured gets improved.

The concierge and membership medicine model was built on the recognition that patients deserve more than what the traditional system provides. Time, attention, communication, and hospitality are not amenities in this model — they are the baseline. But the practices that deliver on that promise don’t do it by accident. They train for it, budget for it, and hold their teams accountable for it.

“Patient First” is a promise. Training is how you keep it.

Editor’s Note: This article is intended for informational and educational purposes for physicians, practice administrators, and healthcare professionals. This content does not constitute legal, financial, or compliance advice.

Sources & Citations

1. West Corporation (now Enghouse/Vonage). “Prioritizing the Patient Experience” study (2017). Key findings: 91% of Americans likely to investigate other options when dissatisfied; 88% would switch providers; 74% put off scheduling appointments when dissatisfied; 94% of providers say patients are shopping around more than in the past. Published via TeleVox Solutions. https://www.televox.com/news/west-study-91-americans-likely-explore-healthcare-options-dissatisfied-current-providers/
2. Repugen. (2025). “How Excellent Customer Service Drives Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare.” Key findings: dissatisfied patients are 4x more likely to leave; 69% will switch providers when communications don’t meet expectations; 73% check online reviews before choosing a provider. https://www.repugen.com/blog/importance-of-customer-service-healthcare
3. Opus. (2024). “Hospitality Training 360 Report 2024.” Key findings: training budgets range from $1,200 (hourly roles) to $6,000 (general managers); 63% of respondents increased training investment in recent years; top training priorities in 2024: management and leadership (80%), customer service (60%), interpersonal skills (45%). https://www.opus.so/blog/hospitality-training-360-report-2024
4. Business.com. “Pricing and Costs of Customer Service Education and Training.” Customer service training cost ranges for online courses ($10/employee), software ($80–$1,000), virtual instructor-led ($1,500–$2,250), and in-person full-day training ($500–$1,500/employee). Small medical offices typically spend $200–$500 per employee annually. https://www.business.com/articles/pricing-and-costs-of-customer-service-education-and-training/
5. Practice Builders. Medical Office Staff Training. Citing finding that 51% of patients would switch to a new healthcare provider to receive better customer service. https://www.practicebuilders.com/marketing-services/staff-training/

Note: The original article cited a 2019 Modern Healthcare study finding less than $1,296 annually per employee on customer service training for administrative healthcare personnel. This figure could not be independently verified through publicly available sources and has been excluded. The Business.com data ($200–$500 range for small medical offices) is used in its place as a verifiable alternative.

© 2007–2026 Concierge Medicine Today, LLC. All rights reserved. Concierge Medicine Today is the industry’s trade publication, established 2007. DISCLAIMER: This content does not constitute medical, financial, legal, or other professional advice. This content is not without error or omissions.