A new concierge program being tested at a handful of Signature HealthCARE’s post-acute buildings is helping to improve the customer experience and retain residents. Purveyors of the program are now combining efforts to formalize processes related to the initiative and lay the groundwork for future expansion.
St. Francis, Four Courts, Marietta and Buckhead have each conducted concierge programs for varying lengths of time. A meeting held this week at Signature’s home office in Louisville provided an opportunity for representatives from the four facilities to gather and merge their ideas.
“They developed the program, which I think makes it a better program,” said Kara Plaks, Business Development Leader for Post Acute who is helping to facilitate the effort. “It was developed by people that are doing it every day.”
With a high volume of admissions, the Post Acute division is a logical place to launch the concierge program, which emphasizes the time period just after a patient is admitted. Clinical needs are an immediate focus at the point of admission, but certain other aspects of patient care and comfort can go overlooked.
Each of the buildings participating in the pilot program employs a full-time concierge to tend to those patient needs and desires. That might involve providing simple information about the type of care and treatment a new resident can expect at the facility. It also might mean fulfilling any number of patient requests, such as watching a particular TV show or enjoying a favorite hobby.
At St. Francis, for instance, a resident who happened to be a music fanatic requested a boombox.
“So I searched every floor to find him a CD player, so he could listen to his CDs,” said concierge Melody Tyus.
Administrator Renee Tutor said Tyus’ “warm and genuine” personality has made a big difference since the program was launched in the building about a year ago. Some patients – particularly younger patients who had undergone a knee or hip surgery – had been leaving the facility within 24 or 48 hours because they were dissatisfied, Tutor said.
That’s no longer the case.
“The concierge program has been so successful with having that happier customer when they come in,” she said. “It has more than paid for itself.”
Helen Segal said her background as a CNA has been helpful in her job as concierge at Marietta, and that the concierge can play an invaluable role in “giving residents confidence that they are secure in our facility.”
Jenna Daniel moved from Lafayette, Indiana to Louisville to take the concierge job at Four Courts after a chance encounter with Plaks at a Washington, D.C.-area airport.
“It’s just exciting to be a part of something to make the patient experience as good as it can be,” she said. “There’s always unique opportunities for each patient and family.”
Plans call for the concierge program to be expanded to the other six Post Acute buildings, and Plaks pointed to evidence that buy-in already exists.
A recent survey of 600 Post Acute stakeholders found customer service to be the top area in which there was room for improvement, she said, adding that ensuring resident satisfaction isn’t limited to any particular department or group.
“Everybody is responsible for the patient experience. There’s not one person that can own that.”