AHN positive patient experience team earns national certification
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Allegheny Health Network officials know that it takes more than a top-notch medical team to ensure patients have a positive experience when they visit one of their hospitals or clinics.
To make sure that each visit to the hospital is the best it can be, the regional healthcare network has created a patient experience team to monitor the multiple interactions patients have with staff during a hospital visit.
Darla Brown, who serves as the patient experience manager for Allegheny Clinic and AHN-Wexford Hospital in Pine, is one of 10 AHN managers and specialists who recently earned the Certified Patient Experience Professional designation from the nationally recognized Beryl Institute, based in Nashville, Tenn.
“Our job is to care about every aspect of patient care, or their experience, which begins way before you enter the doctor’s office or even before you enter the hospital,” Brown said. “And when I really think about the patient experience and why it’s important, the reality is we care so much because it’s the right thing to do.”
Brown holds an undergraduate degree in healthcare administration from Slippery Rock University and a master’s degree in business administration from Waynesburg University.
Before joining AHN, Brown worked for more than 20 years in customer and provider services in the healthcare industry.
Dr. Eugene Scioscia, who serves as chief experience officer for AHN, said his department is responsible for all facets of a patient’s visit to the hospital.
“Parking, waiting times, billing — the entire experience, the multiple touchpoints,” he said. “During any given patient visit, there may be 60 to 100 times they are touched by a staff member.
“Anybody on our team, in our organization, who touches that patient, affects their experience — good, bad or indifferent,” Scioscia said.
Brown said patient experience managers are only a “small piece of the puzzle” when providing healthcare, but they can make a significant impact.
“I’m able to collaborate and work with the frontline staff as well as the leadership, who really support this idea,” she said. “
Brown said the leadership staff at AHN Wexford regularly make rounds to glean information from patients about the experience they encountered at the hospital.
“The leadership here is focused on hearing first-hand what is happening with our patients,” she said. “This is important because it helps us understand what or staff is experiencing, which is critical. We have to be sure that we are taking care of the people who are taking care of our patients.”
According to the Beryl Institute, the certification Brown and AHN’s other patient experience managers received means they “possess leadership qualities to influence the systems, processes and behaviors that cultivate consistently positive experiences with the knowledge and practical experience necessary to pass a rigorous examination.”
The health care system’s patient experience managers are to maintain their certification every three years and remain active in the field.
“As the patient experience movement grows, we recognize the important contribution professionals attaining certification as CPXPs will have,” said Jason A. Wolf, president of the Patient Experience Institute.
“This designation is significant as it underscores and reinforces the critical focus on the patient and family experience in today’s healthcare environment.
“The recipients of this certification represent a visionary, thoughtful and committed group of individuals focused on changing the landscape of healthcare for the better,” Wolf said.
Scioscia said he is “immensely proud” of the employees who went through the certification process.
“Their motivation to seek this certification is just one of the many qualities that set them apart in their field as remarkable healthcare workers who believe, more than anything, in the importance of treating every patient with compassion, dignity and respect through every step of their healthcare journey,” he said.