Opportunity 

Patient feedback helps health systems identify gaps in service so that changes can be made to enhance care delivery, improve satisfaction, foster loyalty, and attract new patients. 

In the spring of 2020, Penn Medicine's CEO assembled a team to assess the state of patient experience surveying in ambulatory settings. By speaking with hundreds of staff from across the health system, we learned that sending long paper surveys by mail and email was resulting in low response rates and long lead times for feedback. We also heard that it was difficult to gain actionable insight from the feedback that did make its way back because surveys were associated with survey IDs rather than medical record numbers and, therefore, could not be quickly or easily tied to practice data to shed light on factors that led to the reported positive or negative experience. 

Based on these findings, the health system launched a request for proposals to explore options to solve these issues.  

Intervention  

After much consideration, the committee selected a homegrown patient feedback solution for implementation. 

Built on top of Penn Medicine's Switchboard technology, PMX Feedback takes the pulse of Penn Medicine patients with agile, customizable experience assessments delivered by text message, email, or robocall within moments of a touchpoint, with data returned to Penn Medicine instantaneously upon completion.  

A critical feature that sets the system apart is that it surveys patients in real-time at various points along their journey, enabling staff to perform service recovery when it matters most. With the old way, we sent one survey asking about every part of the patient experience after the visit – when the scheduling interaction, for example, might have occurred months ago. With PMX feedback, clinics automatically send a brief survey after scheduling occurs and another after the patient visits the office to ensure that feedback can be addressed promptly. And if the clinic is testing a new approach – for example, a new check-in process, practice managers can create and launch new surveys in seconds to get a sense of how things are going.  

Finally, because this system was built in-house, we can connect response data to other data like call center wait times or practice metrics from a given day – giving us a 360-degree view of the patient experience from which we can draw powerful and actionable insights. 

Impact  

PMX Feedback was implemented across all medical practice locations at Penn Medicine in the fall of 2021. 

Since launching, it has improved response rates, enhanced the diversity of feedback our health system receives, and equipped staff with the data they need to provide the best care possible to patients.  

Before PMX Feedback, survey response rates hovered between 10-15 percent, whereas they now exceed 30 percent. We've also seen promising improvements in review rate, action rate, and patient engagement. For example, staff took action more than 110,000 times in the first 1.5 years in response to survey feedback to perform service recovery, conduct general patient follow-up, or introduce staff education or coaching.  

The PMX Feedback program continues to grow as more clinical spaces line up for access.