Building Patient Trust Through Better Communication with Patient Experience Experts Chelsea Grear and Jasmin Barber

On this episode of the MGMA Insights Podcast, host and senior editor Daniel Williams sits down with Chelsea Grear, Patient Experience Specialist III, UT Physicians, and patient experience healthcare professional Jasmin Barber, MPH, LSSYB, to explore how thoughtful communication shapes the patient experience. Drawing on their work with healthcare teams, Grear and Barber discuss active listening, clear language, proactive service recovery and the connection between engaged employees and loyal patients.

Episode Takeaways

• Listen before offering a solution. Healthcare professionals may encounter the same condition repeatedly, but the situation is often new and unsettling for the patient. Giving patients time to explain their concerns helps establish trust from the beginning.
• Replace medical jargon with accessible explanations. Plain language, diagrams and written instructions can make complex information easier to understand, particularly when patients are anxious or receiving several pieces of information at once.
• Use teach-back to confirm understanding. Instead of asking whether a patient understands, invite the patient to explain the instructions in their own words. This can reveal confusion about medications, follow-up care or next steps before the patient leaves.
• Make handoffs feel coordinated rather than repetitive. Team members should share relevant information as patients move between touchpoints. When questions must be repeated for clinical or safety reasons, explaining why can reduce frustration.
• Pay attention to what patients are not saying. Repeatedly checking the time, looking around the waiting room, tapping a foot or becoming unusually quiet may indicate confusion, anxiety or dissatisfaction. A timely check-in can prevent the situation from escalating.
• Communicate proactively during delays. Patients should not have to seek out updates. Acknowledging the wait, apologizing sincerely and providing available information demonstrates that the team recognizes and values the patient’s time.
• Treat service recovery as an operational opportunity. When an experience falls short, teams should attempt to clarify the problem and restore trust. Recurring complaints may point to a workflow issue that requires process redesign rather than a one-time response.
• Support employees to improve the patient experience. Greer emphasizes that patients are affected by the organization’s least-supported team member. Sharing efficient workflows, removing unnecessary steps and giving employees the tools they need can improve both staff and patient experiences.

Resources

• Connect with Chelsea Grear on LinkedIn
• Connect with Jasmin Barber on LinkedIn
• "5 everyday touch points that shape patient trust" — recap of Chelsea Grear and Jasmin Barber’s MGMA Summit presentation
• MGMA Patient Experience Playbook
• MGMA Tools & Checklists - Patient Experience

MGMA Members: Would like to appear on an episode? Email us at dwilliams@mgma.com. If you have a question about your practice that you would like us to answer, send an email to advisor@mgma.com. Don't forget to subscribe to our network wherever you get your podcasts!