As Director of Woman and Newborn Services at East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie, Louisiana, I’m keenly aware that we face strong competition for the business of expectant moms and their families. Ours is one of four hospitals in the metro-New Orleans area offering obstetric care, which means there is a lot of competition for new patients.

But we have a competitive advantage. We’ve developed a way to boost our patient relationships early and establish invaluable access, starting in the beginning of pregnancy and continuing through their children’s early years.

The Women’s Health Services team at Hartford Hospital is committed to providing a top-notch experience to our expecting parents and families with new babies. We believe that education is critical to this goal because it gives our patients the information they need to become confident and empowered parents.

Not only does solid education mean better outcomes for our patients, research shows it also leads to higher levels of satisfaction. And that’s good for business, as well. Under managed care, satisfaction has a real and important impact on reimbursement. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) rewards hospitals with incentive payments or penalizes them with reduced reimbursements, based on HCAHPS performance scores.

New mothers have been described as the Chief Medical Officers of their families, making 80% of the healthcare decisions. We want to strengthen our bonds with new moms and give them the education they need to make informed decisions for themselves and their families. Plus, a more satisfied new mom is more likely to recommend Hartford Hospital to a friend and come back for another pregnancy or for future healthcare needs.

As a Maternity Nurse Navigator at Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, I’m available to provide support to expectant mothers, whether that’s explaining what to expect at pregnancy checkups, helping to create a birth plan or reviewing breastfeeding options. A few weeks ago, I was able to get an expectant mother the care she needed—a need she had expressed in response to one of our Early Childhood patient education emails.

I received a secure message from a woman currently receiving our automated weekly education messages. She was 27 weeks pregnant and didn’t know where to turn to get prenatal care. She thought that she couldn’t get access to care without current identification cards. She wasn’t able to travel to renew her identification, and she didn’t know what to do to get her questions answered—and the care that she and her baby needed.

Our team sends automated weekly emails to touch base with expectant and new moms to help them prepare for childbirth and provide optimal care for their children. This woman was receiving messages about raising her toddler and used the connection to reach out.

There is a lot of focus in our industry lately on patients as healthcare consumers. Particularly in the case of childbirth, expectant moms increasingly have a choice of where to deliver their babies. Hospital shopping is common among this group of women, and competition is fierce among hospitals for their business. That’s why it’s more important than ever to listen to what our patients are saying about us.

Surveys are a great way to gain insight into how new and expectant women feel about their hospital experience – from their first interaction with us through the early years of raising their children. But traditional surveys are often delivered to patients at inconvenient times or end up being thrown away.

How do you request patient feedback in a way that patients are more likely to respond?

At Northwestern Medicine in Illinois, we bring care directly to patients through our digital engagement platform. Branded as NM Parent Connect, we reach expectant moms on their mobile devices at targeted points in their care journeys. We send them automated education, but also have the ability to inform them of our resources and to gain critical patient feedback at any time.