Treatment plans are shared and finalized the day before
to ensure time is set aside to better understand patients
and to provide optimal service on the day of the visit
, with about 30 managers and staff members participating in deliberations
Every day at 8:50 a.m., the day at Minish Dental Hospital begins with a comprehensive analysis of patients—now referred to as “customers.” A month ago, the clinical meetings—which used to focus on sharing patients’ symptoms and treatment plans—were transformed into sessions dedicated to identifying customer acquisition channels, relationships with referrers, and customer characteristics, with the goal of improving patient satisfaction. Approximately 30 key managers—including the hospital directors, dental technicians, clinic staff, and marketing personnel—gather in one place to put their heads together.
The goal of the meeting is to share insights on “what this patient wants” and to determine “what each department can do to ensure patient satisfaction.” Together, we assess whether the patient prioritizes shorter treatment times, is sensitive to pain and therefore requires pain-free treatment, or is particularly sensitive to wait times.
These meetings are possible because discussions regarding patient care are completed in advance. The clinical aspects—such as symptoms and treatment plans—are reviewed the previous afternoon when the department heads meet separately to prepare for the next day’s patient consultations. As a result, during the morning meetings, rather than rehashing the patients’ conditions, the team can focus entirely on examining each patient in depth.
Park Hye-in, Director of Counseling, cited “viewing patients not as mere patients but from the perspective of ‘relationships’” as the biggest change. She explained that by examining how patients came to know about the hospital and why they were referred, the staff came to understand not only the medical care itself but also the values patients expect from the hospital and the basis of their trust.
This shift in the way meetings are conducted has transformed the nature of customer interactions. When a customer arrives through a referral, staff are now able to assist them with full knowledge of who referred them; since information about the customer’s professional background and personality is also shared, this enables a more nuanced and refined small talk. Director Kim Su-jeong said, “Whereas each department used to manage customers separately, now the consultation room, treatment room, CRM, and marketing teams all operate based on the same information,” adding, “This ensures that customers have a consistent experience at every touchpoint.”
In this regard, efforts to enhance the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system are also gaining momentum. The CRM system, which is built on customer data, allows for an intuitive understanding of customer distribution and referral trends, and is expected to be widely utilized to boost the hospital’s revenue and customer satisfaction.
Jeong Hwa-young, General Manager, said, “We are focusing on deeply understanding each and every customer, going beyond simply providing treatment.” She added, “As these efforts become more systematized through CRM and IT solutions, we expect this to enhance the quality of the customer experience and lay the foundation for a virtuous cycle that leads to repeat visits and referrals.”
