“What customer comment or complaint has been most useful to you in improving your business?”

The [complaint] that comes up the most is with insurance. Our patients come in and have questions: “Well, why don’t they cover that?” So we have improved the way we speak to insurance companies, trying to find out for our patients why something is covered [or] not covered.

We had a patient the other day who needed diabetic shoes, but his policy did not cover any shoes. We told [the patient] exactly what they said. [The patient feels better] knowing that we at least checked for him and tried to get it covered.

I [was talking with someone from] an insurance company [who] said, “No initial prosthesis is covered, we’ve already paid for one,” and I said, “No, you’re misinterpreting the word ‘initial’.” Finally, when I explained to her what it was, she said, “Oh, now I get it!” So, [we serve the customers by speaking] to the insurance companies in a more informed way.
Marvee Gingras, Administrator
Level Four Orthotics & Prosthetics Inc.
Winston-Salem, N.C.

We have a written survey that [patients] fill out when they receive the item, and one of the questions we ask is “What was your first impression?” Many patients say “Very good.”

We have good front office people, but if [patients] don’t have a good first impression, if they were treated badly, they will let me know. If they were treated [well], they will let me know that too. That has really, really improved our service.

When you answer the phone for the first time, how you respond to that [matters]. Say [someone asks] a simple question about a compression stocking, and maybe [staff] considers that not so important. Any question somebody asks is important.
Norbert Graf, CP, Co-owner
Center for Prosthetic & Orthotic Design
Albuquerque, N.M.

I had a patient come in one day who said, “There was a place in Florida where I could go to their Web site, fill out the patient information sheet, give them all my insurance information, and fax over my prescription. And when I got there, everything was already done. I didn’t have to waste a trip to go there and have them say, ‘We don’t have this in stock yet.’ If they didn’t have it in stock, they had the prescription, so they could order it, and it’d be in the next day or the day after.”

I set it up so that [patients] can go to our Web site and download their patient information sheet, and e-mail it back to us, [and when they] come in for an appointment, their insurance has been verified [and] everything’s been done. [We live] in a fast-paced society now, and it just speeds up the whole process.
I had e-mail set up on my BlackBerry, and I have potential patients who e-mail me questions. I can respond to them within 30 minutes.

Three or four years ago, I [started giving] my patients my cell phone number. I find that a lot of people, once they become an amputee or have a stroke, feel like they’re a bother to everyone and they don’t want to ask anyone for help. People feel like they’re not just a number, [but] more a part of the family, when they have access to you.
Marlon Moore, CO, Owner
Red Stick Orthopedics & Prosthetics Inc.
Baton Rouge, La.

Customers always complained about carrying their prostheses in plastic bags. We give them a leg bag if they come in with a temporary [prosthesis], and we’re making a permanent and [the customer] has to carry one prosthesis, or for a swim leg, or any kind of additional prosthesis that they need to have repaired or serviced.
We had nice bags fabricated through Royal Knit. [Customers] really liked the canvas bags we gave them. It cheered them up. It’s colorful, it has our logo on it, and [customers] can carry it over their shoulders. It just makes having to carry any spare prosthesis around a class act. It’s long and narrow and has a shoulder harness and loops for handles. They can fit all their supplies in it, too.

It has our name and phone number on it, so if the patient happens to leave their prosthesis somewhere, we will get a call and we’ll get it back. It also made it easier for them to get through airports if they had to transport a spare leg.
Arthur Sirdofsky, CPO, LPO
Garden State Orthopaedic Inc.
Morristown, N.J.

I’m the mastectomy fitter and a lot of my business is repeat. Just being available to my patients if they call, or if they happen to walk in, [is important to them].

They have said, “Thanks for seeing me on such short notice.”

We are definitely available to see people without appointments. We may have to work them in, but we generally try to see everybody who walks in.
Dean Lee, CFom
Positive Image Prosthetics &
Orthotics Inc.
Savannah, Ga.