Physician-focused service in hospitals: a strategy for the competitive marketplace.

Excellence in customer service is the key to success for any organization. Hospitals have begun to implement this newly popularized dictum through guest relations programs for patients. This article stresses the importance of viewing physicians as another major customer of the hospital--a customer who holds the key to the bottom line through patient admissions. To implement a "physician as customer" philosophy, the article suggests that it is necessary to understand what physicians value and how they rate the hospital on these factors. Methods for data collection are suggested. Acting on those findings to create a physician-focused service system is yet another strategy for achieving service excellence.