Breeze Airways recently arrived in Pittsburgh at the Pittsburgh International Airport, which has been a game changer for my travel back home to Massachusetts. While Breeze does not fly to MA directly, there are direct flights to Providence, RI, which is a quick easy ride to my hometown in Worcester, MA. Breeze was founded by the previous co-founder of Jet Blue with the goal of providing direct flights between mid-sized US destinations that were not previously connected by direct flights. Since July, I've flown Breeze a handful of times and despite a few minor delays, my experience overall has been positive. The flights are fairly inexpensive (more expensive if you want to bring a carry on onboard, but still inexpensive compared to other larger airlines).
Last week when I was preparing to fly home for Thanksgiving, I realized that TSA PreCheck was not showing up on my account and I was worried it would not be on my boarding pass when I went to check in. This happened the last time I flew home and despite entering my Known Traveler Number and following the instructions on the airline's app to add this to my boarding pass, it didn't work. While I know TSA PreCheck is not the end of the world, I wanted it on my boarding pass, especially for one of the busiest travel times during the year. I googled customer service information for Breeze. It was clear based on the information I was finding that they prefer you to check all the support guides in the app instead of calling. Since I had followed the app's instructions already with no luck, I called the number listed. Despite having a number listed, Breeze does not have the option to speak to a live customer service representative.
I was starting to get frustrated and hung up once without actually listening to the options. Then I called back and realized I could text the number instead. I texted the number and explained my issue and IMMEDIATELY heard back from what seemed like a live person (maybe it wasn't but I would not have known the difference). We texted back and forth a few times, they added my Known Traveler Number, told me to re-download my boarding pass, waited until I did that to make sure it was all set, and that was it. A simple fix that only took about 3 minutes. While I had some minor frustration in the beginning figuring out how to contact the airline, the issue ended up being resolved so quickly, without having to wait on hold or answer multiple questions.
My whole point in sharing this story is not about getting TSA PreCheck on my boarding pass. It is about the customer service I experienced and how easy it was to resolve an issue. This experience further solidified my support of Breeze and made me think: HEALTHCARE SHOULD BE THIS WAY.
Reflecting on this experience made me think of a video I first saw in 2014 during a Lean Six Sigma training at Boston Children's Hospital - "If Air Travel Worked like Healthcare." If you haven't seen this video, it is absolutely worth checking out at the link below:
This video was created in January 2010. It is still sadly relevant almost 12 years later. While not all aspects of healthcare may be able to work the same way the airline industry does, I strongly believe many parts of healthcare should work this way, especially when it comes to scheduling an appointment, calling to ask a question, sharing medical records, and avoiding having to answer the same questions each time you speak to a different person. The customer/patient experience over the phone is SO important and sometimes I think we do not spend enough time figuring out how to make it better. While some hospitals and health systems have introduced improvements like online scheduling or scheduling requests through apps, this is not consistent across the country or even across specialties within the same hospital. As someone who has been working in healthcare for almost 10 years, I still have difficulty calling to schedule an appointment sometimes or when I just have a question for the doctor.
The patient experience in healthcare is so important and something we have to get right. The first contact with the hospital can influence how that individual may feel about the hospital and whether they feel confident receiving care there or recommending the hospital to others. It should not take someone with a master's degree in healthcare or someone who works at a hospital to know how to navigate the healthcare system. Individuals who come from all different backgrounds regardless of race, age, language, socioeconomic status, etc. should not have any more or less difficulty in getting the care they need. I believe that healthcare needs to learn from other industries, especially other industries that handle large call volumes much more seamlessly than healthcare. I know other industries may not handle something as sensitive as an individual's health, and sometimes there are different complications and a clinical team member may need to be contacted before scheduling can happen, but for so many things this does not need to be the case.
Artificial intelligence is one thing I have been thinking more about (and will explore in more detail in a future post), especially when it comes to call centers and handling the initial call to schedule an appointment. While I greatly value speaking to a live person, I only value this when it works well. If this is not working well (and more often than not, it's not working well), it is time to explore other opportunities. We must remember why we are in healthcare in the first place - to care for our patients. The patient experience and this ACCESS to care - from the first point of contact, to when the patient no longer needs care - is essential to get right.