Hello everyone, and welcome to Mission Multiplier. I’m Jane Pfeiffer, founder and president of Fieldtrip.
And with me today is Hannah Roth. Hello, everyone. Super excited about this. Yeah. So Hannah is going to be talking to us, using her data back to brain. And so we’re talking today about, FQHCs. So you know, those leaders work in a really complex environment, and everything’s getting harder. They choose to earn less, work with fewer resources, and handle really complex cases.
And, you know, that’s how health care should be done. So we conducted research with thousands of FQHC leaders. And because of that research, we’re going to kick off a special series talking about the unique challenges that FQHC leaders face and how maybe we can reduce some of that friction and make the work bear a little more reward in return.
Yes, absolutely. And so, Jane, as you mentioned, you know, Fieldtrip has an audience of almost 8,700 FQHCs leaders. So we were able to conduct some research across, you know, several thousand individuals. And we know that it’s a challenging landscape just because of, you know, political climate or differences in grants or administrations or whatever it may be.
But I think throughout this research, we have found that there’s really three emerging challenges that are resonating the most with FQHC leaders at this time. So, you know, across the research, we found that those three challenges were around utilization, visibility, and value. So essentially a lot of FQHC leaders are feeling pain to, you know, be seen, be used and be valued.
So were you surprised when those were kind of the three emerging pain points that surfaced? Well, yes and no. But what continues to surprise me is that I know from the data utilization was really the predominant pain point. And it, it, it’s, typical but a little frustrating because when you think about utilization, we all want that kind of immediate reward.
You know, if I get more appointments, more patients, better, you know, payer mix, that’s going to make things easier. And we have to focus on the things that precede that. We can’t change utilization without being valued, and we can’t be valued if we’re unknown. The thing that makes utilization really tough in today’s world is that we’re living in a climate of active distrust, and it’s to the extent of things that we’ve never faced before.
I mean, we’ve probably all felt it at that. It’s quite a bit different, but it’s been scientifically proven that we’re in a climate of of distrust, and that makes everything a little more challenging. Yeah, absolutely. And it’s interesting because, you know, in years past we look at the Edelman research, they do obviously their trust barometer every year.
And in years past it’s been yeah, you know, trust is on the decline. Trust is, you know, faltering. And now exactly your point, Jane. We’re starting from a place of distrust. It’s no longer like you have to earn people’s trust. You have to get over their distrust, which is obviously, you know, a different challenge and requires a different strategy.
So, you mentioned that the majority of FQHC leaders were struggling with utilization. So over half, 54% of of the leaders that we surveyed said that that was their primary pain point. But we also found that there were correlated pain points. So utilization resonated the most. But tacked on to that was visibility. So it sounds like a lot of leaders are struggling with, you know, people don’t know us or they don’t trust us enough to use us or, you know, kind of those combined pain points.
So tell me what your thoughts are on that because you kind of hinted at it. But let’s dive deeper into that topic. Yeah. So, you know, I feel like trust is going to be the anthem of what we talk about today, because it’s a lot of times we think of trust as this, like big noble hero moment. And it’s not it’s small, consistent actions done time and time again.
That can create predictable experiences. So, you know, I’m kind of working around your question because that’s about being valued and trusted, which leads to utilization. If we’re going to be visible, the best place and the best method to reach, you know, our potential patients is through the community. So, you know, word of mouth from our current patient base, from ways that they can meet us at an organic, natural level may be on their terms or in their trusted spaces.
And so here we go. It’s this vicious loop. We’ve got to have a trusting, valuable experience to the people who come to us so that they can then go and recommend, that someone come here for, you know, their flu shots or, you know, diabetes management or senior care support or whatever host of services might be offered. So now that trust plays a big role because it’s not direct only directly with the patient, but it’s to the level and the consistency that that patient can now transfer that trust and invite someone into the FQHC to receive a similar experience.
Does that make sense? Yeah, I love that because, you know, essentially what you’re talking about is not just focusing on the patients and their singular experience, but really turning those patients into advocates for the organization. And there’s this idea of, you know, growing trust and then growing advocacy and, you know, growing referrals, essentially, so you get more utilization.
So I think that that’s super valuable. So I want to ask you, you know, because it seems like, again, with these three pain points, do you see that the FQHCs that you work with are they typically focused on one, or are they trying to focus on all of them? Where should they start? Like kind of what’s your advice for what to focus on with all of these different challenges?
Yeah. The first place I would focus is on.
The patient experience for those who know you right now, because that’s going to bear the most fruit if we spend money, growing awareness, because that’s the only way we can grow awareness. We have to meet people and interrupt them because they’re not looking for us. Right. We can grow visibility to 100%. But if if people don’t value us still or they don’t utilize us, we we’ve just wasted a lot of time and money.
So focus first on that experience. How are we building and maintaining trust in the way they’re greeted, in the way the appointment goes in the way the follow up, and rescheduling or, you know, appointment confirmation is delivered. All those little touch points really matter. So it’s probably a combination of those little bitty details that can make the experience the strongest.
And then, like you said, then those people can go out and be advocates. Now I want to caution people because, you know, you hear things like advocates and ambassadors and, you know, if you were a big brand like Nike or a nonprofit, you think about this like really structured, formal kind of ambassador program. And for FQHCs, it’s obviously, you know, that would be great and and does apply to like you’re donor ambassadors.
But for your patient ambassadors, all you need to do is make them feel welcome, wanted, respected and engaged that they have a choice in their health care and how it’s delivered, and that they’re helped along the way so they can understand what they’re, you know, deciding on and what might not be a good decision. So focus there and then you can work backwards to grow that value and then grow awareness.
Yeah, I think that’s a really powerful statement because you’re basically saying, you know, you don’t necessarily need a giant overhaul where you’re trying to, you know, tackle all of these things at once. But you can start with, you know, your current ecosystem, right? Look at your your current patients. How can you make their experience, you know better? How can you make the touchpoints better?
How can you make it a more collaborative environment versus, you know, just kind of what people expect to just be kind of treated like a number? So I think that that’s really powerful. And I think one thing to remember is that, you know, people are only patients some of the time. So the rest of the time they’re people.
Right. And so you have to work on those people experiences and those human experiences. So treat your patients with care so they can go talk to their people in their environment, in their circle, talk about a great experience that they had. And then when those people have a moment where they become a patient, then obviously you get people more in the door.
And that, to your point, fixes the utilization and the value problem. Yeah. And Hannah, that reminds me of another great point is when you’re looking for a small action to kind of stair step into growth, you know, look at that new patient experience. What does that look like? Feel like, sound like what are the yes, there’s going to be documentation, but how might that be turned into a really unexpected, pleasant experience?
That’s awesome. So I want to talk about the value piece because it seems like and I know this can be a little bit discouraging sometimes when, you know, you mentioned sort of in the intro how most of these people that are working at the FQHCs, they’re taking, you know, less salary or they have a lot of volunteers, it can be very tiring work.
So I think that the value like I, I would imagine that that’s such a frustration, like, we know how valuable we are. Why can’t people just see it? So do you find that that’s sort of a common sentiment of if people would just know our value, you know, it almost feels like this untenable thing or this, this thing you can’t conquer.
So tell us a little bit more about kind of the value part of these pain points that obviously FQHC leaders are feeling. Yeah. Absolutely. You know, don’t feel like there’s enough value for both, you know, the typical kind of nonprofit, view in terms of, you know, well, it’s nonprofit. It’s not, you know, big and commercial, but, you know, the public and potential patients can automatically assume that, yes, FQHC health care is available to me, but I have to settle for a lesser quality experience.
And that’s not necessarily true. So it’s a double edged sword in terms of that disappointment and frustration about feeling valued. It’s it’s one this is hard work. And you know, we’re doing it for really valuable reasons and that shouldn’t be undervalued. And then two, you know the providers that work at FQHCs are used to seeing really complex cases for a multitude of reasons.
And so they’re really good problem solvers and a problem solver, I’ll take that in my healthcare experience far more than I would somebody who might be checking the boxes. Yeah. And sometimes when you’ve explained, you know, some of the things that the FQHCs do that you guys have worked with, I’m like, can I go there like that? Sounds like an amazing experience versus what I have experience with health care.
So I think that that’s really awesome. So, Jane, I want to kind of wrap this up with, you know, we’ve talked about the pain points that they’re feeling. We’ve talked about those three things and what’s at stake if this doesn’t get fixed. Right. Like what is how does the problem become more and more pervasive if some of these things aren’t addressed or aren’t fixed?
Yeah, in a word, everything. Because who thought we’d be in the situation we are today? And there was already, you know, pressures with changes in, you know, Obamacare and funding. And now.
What might the future look like and what would happen if, you know, federal funding went away? You you have to look at those extremes. And so, you know, we can’t deny reality. We can’t Pollyanna our way. You know, over the problem. So I would invite FQHC leaders to think about what opportunity might this provide. How could this one day in the future be something that we look back and say, you know, we didn’t realize it then, but that made us stronger, better, more funded and, you know, changed our game forever.
Because I think there are those types of opportunities out there. But you got to be willing to think of it that way. Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, so often in life constraints become opportunities. If you think outside the box or if you think of things that you haven’t thought of before, you know, ways of tackling problems that you’ve had to learn that’s new or things like that.
So I think that’s a really powerful sentiment is, you know, for the listeners or, you know, people viewing this, it’s if you’re feeling discouraged or if you’re feeling beat down, you’re not alone. Obviously, you know, 8,700 other FQHC leaders are facing similar challenges or feel the same. So I think that’s a good thing to remember and that, you know, opportunities are not always obvious, but I think it is always there.
So we need to think of it in that way. So. Well Hannah thank you. Well, I appreciate you having me on to talk about some of the data and some of the things that we have found. So anything that I can answer, anything else you want to highlight before we say goodbye? You know, at this point let’s we’ve got a good bite-sized recap and we’ll save the rest for the next time.
Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, I love this. I hopefully this is helpful to all the listeners and see you next time. Yeah everyone stay tuned for more Mission Multipliers at wearefieldtrip.com. Awesome!
