This week I worked with a large group of physicians on their patient experience and online reputation. In this engagement, I dug a little deeper and did some work on concepts of customer service and loyalty. As such, I thought to share a brief word on Net Promoter and the definition of “Passives”.
Passives are people with indistinct feelings. They are patients who will rate their experience as a 7 or 8 on a 10-point scale. They might like the physician, but not enough to recommend them. Passives will likely pay their bills, but we see patient “churn” with Passive patients. So, while passive patients are not a direct liability (they are not going to write a bad review) they do limit practice growth; And they may be more easily turned to negative with other practice factors.
For a growth minded physician, it is important to think about how she/he can more effectively connect with these patients. Without a focus on improvement, Passives are at risk of becoming Detractors. At QM2, we help drive an approach for physicians to convert Passives into enthusiastic Promoters.
