Too often in healthcare, we tend to forget that our patients (customers) have choices in where they can receive their care. This may seem obvious in metropolitan areas but frankly, it’s also true in rural America even where local competition doesn’t seem to exist. After all, it may only be a 20 to 40-minute drive to the next nearest community with a rehab clinic. As professionals within the rehab profession, I think we all need to remember that many times in a patient’s mind, not much separates one rehab clinic from the next. Oh sure, we can fall back on the mantra that if the referring physician tells a patient to go for treatment, that’s where the patient will likely go. But what about those instances when the decision is left up to the patient and that patient has to choose between two, three or even four options? How do we stand out above the rest? Well, why leave it to chance?

As this article infers, there are ways to stand out in any business or profession – even cab driving. If a cabbie can figure out ways to create a memorable experience for a customer, we too should be able to come up with some new, thought-provoking, customer service-oriented approaches to take. Read the article and when finished, challenge yourselves to think of two or three ideas that could be implemented in your rehab clinics that would make it harder for any patient or patient’s family member to forget us. In a day and age when competition truly is present everywhere, it only makes sense.