Patients Deserve Great Service: The Waiting Room Concierge

As three undergraduates enrolled in a primary care delivery course, we found your waiting room concierge innovation very inspiring. Specifically, we have a few questions regarding specific topics from the article. Does placing a concierge in the waiting room result in additional positive outcomes for the patient beyond increased satisfaction? Second, this study took place in a New York City suburb—the most populated city in the United States—and we are curious as to whether and/or how findings would vary if this intervention was conducted in a smaller or rural area? After discussing our own experiences in healthcare clinics in various areas of Ohio, we have come to realize how similar, yet different our personal waiting room experiences are. Our collective experiences suggest that the very first person a patient interacts with at most healthcare clinics is sitting behind a wall. After reading your article, we realized how much patients would benefit from a more personable and welcoming waiting room environment. We hope that your waiting room concierge model is further reviewed, tested, and implemented throughout diverse clinical environments in the United States.