They don’t call me Yoda for nothing. This little rant is for those acolytes drinking the Kool Aid of disbelief, the recipe that says that one day, if we stay the course, this will all get better, those who believe that the light at the end of the tunnel isn’t a train.
For the next few minutes try and disassociate yourself from your responsibilities at work and become a patient.  Recall a time when you’ve been a dissatisfied patient. If you’re totally honest, that simple exercise should quicken your pulse. Cold beads of sweat appear on your forehead; your palms feel a little clammy.

The transition is faster than Clark Kent in a phone booth. A mild mannered and pedestrian acolyte transformed into a right-winged, Myers-Briggs INTJ A-Type with a passion for metaphorically devouring the unfortunate person awaiting your visit.

As you think about managing the equity of your patients think about it from the perspective of the patient, goodness knows they do. That relationship is black and white—there are no shades of gray. It’s good versus evil, Yoda versus Darth Vader.

I think with most patient interactions the patients believe that the person on the other end of the line is incented to make them go away as quickly as possible and at the lowest possible expense to the provider.

For most patients, patient loyalty is a thing of the past. Who do you do business with? Why? For any product that is even close to being a commodity, I deal with the firm who I find to be the least offensive, the one that will irritate me the least. That’s why I buy cars on EBay so I never again have to hear the phrase, ‘What’s it going to take to get you into that car?” If you find yourself doing that, why is it such a stretch to believe that so many patients feel the same way? That said, could it rather naïve to believe that your firm’s current approach to patient relationship management will make any difference?