Not happy with the hospital? Get your money back.
By Admin | June 15, 2016
Geisinger Health System of Danville, PA, has enacted their ProvenExperience program, which sounds a bit crazy, even though it was the brainchild of a psychiatrist.
Essentially, patients are asked to rate their experiences, list positives and negatives, and request some or all of their co-payment back--up to $2,000--if they feel reparations are necessary. The craziest part? The hospital will always repay the amount, no questions asked.
David Feinberg, MD, President and CEO of Geisinger, implemented the program system-wide in April of 2016. Patients use an app to give hospitals their feedback. Feinburg says the app emphasizes good will and dissuades taking advantage of the system. And so far, patients haven’t abused the system in favor of overly refunding themselves.
Yes, many patients request a piece of their co-pay back, but the amounts are small compared to the constructive criticism the hospitals receive, according to Dr. Feinberg.
"This has allowed us, more than anything, to listen to what went wrong and give patients some assurance that we'll make it better next time," Dr. Feinberg said.
For more information, read “How Geisinger's 'crazy' idea of refunds turned into a smart business strategy” from Becker’s Hospital Review.
