Patient Relations

When speaking with patients, it's important to use terms they will understand. 

As the number of adults with chronic kidney disease will likely increase, there is a growing need-and opportunity-for physician assistants who can help promote healthy kidney function and help slow disease progression.

People with disabilities require special care considerations, but they offer clinicians opportunities to be better caregivers-and people.

There are ebbs and flows in medical practice volume that are connected to predictable events. If we plan for them, we can make the most of the seasons financially – and serve patients better, too.

The 10 types of communication patients say are important to them and, in many cases, what they wished they received.

The push to provide customer service comes at a cost to the physician-patient relationship.

Be aware that the way you present medical information to your patients has a strong influence on their risk perception and, ultimately, their decisions regarding treatment.

Healthcare practitioners and marketers want patients to leave reviews. Unfortunately, not all reviews are positive and constructive. Here’s how to handle negative reviews so they don’t damage your practice’s growth or reputation.

Although we often take pride in our constant busyness, being too busy can be a bad thing.

If telemedicine is supposed to provide convenient and accessible care, why are so few using these services?

Parting ways with patients and staff is a difficult and emotional process. Here’s some gentle guidance.

Getting your patients to take the first step towards better health can be a struggle. Here is a simple reframing technique that could help.

In some ways, collecting directly from patients can be harder than dealing with payers. Here’s how to make it work.

Use your front desk wisely to prevent problems later in the billing cycle.

Patient grievances about their visits to medical practices can be sorted into three categories that require action by all employees.

In order to avoid a suit by an unhappy patient, find ways to know which patients are most likely to sue and how to turn things around.

If you think a patient advocate is a nuisance, think again. They help physicians, just as much as they help patients.

As a physician, time sometimes ticks away slowly while other times moves so fast, you wish you had more of it.

While human contact is natural and banter is commonplace, be mindful of how words and actions are received by those with different perceptions.

A mission to Guatemala provides insight on the PA profession and introspection on what it means to work in healthcare.

Find out what a patient experience officer is and why your practice might need one.

A Lean Six Sigma concept can help medical practices boost patient satisfaction and experience by simply looking at who does the tasks required.

When big business runs medicine, physicians become more disconnected from their care and the physicians overseeing their well-being.

Addressing a patient’s ability and willingness to pay for services upfront can go far towards a practice’s financial health.

Physician burnout and disengagement is an epidemic in health care and threatens the way physicians treat patients.