Experience in customer inquiry management in public healthcare organizations (exemplified by the Altai Krai)

Introduction. Customer inquiries regarding medical care issues to authorities at all levels are an important indicator of medical care availability and quality, as well as of inquiry management level and, ultimately, of the customers’ satisfaction with medical care in general. That is why it is important to effectively manage customer inquiries, primarily at the level of subordinate healthcare organizations. The existing approaches to customer inquiry management do not allow controlling the ratio of incoming inquiries to the level of healthcare organizations and government authorities, as well as the changes in the timeframes of processing them. Aim. To improve customer inquiry management in healthcare, aimed at increasing the efficiency of managerial decisions and customers’ satisfaction with medical care in the region. Materials and Methods. Materials were the official data provided by the Ministry of Health of the Altai Krai regarding the registration and analysis of written and oral inquiries and messages from customers. Research methods: Mathematical and statistical; analytical (comparative, quantitative, structural). Results and Discussion. This article presents the experience of the Ministry of Health of the Altai Krai in achieving an increase in the share of customer inquiries at the level of subordinate medical organizations and, accordingly, a decrease in the share of inquiries to public authorities at all levels and to supervisory organizations, as well as reducing the time taken by processing the inquiries. The results of activities are presented aimed at the introduction and expansion of the project titled Chief Physician on Duty. Conclusions. In the period from 2022 to 2024, thanks to systematic customer-inquiry management, it was possible to significantly improve the inquiry processing quality and efficiency. This includes an increase in the share of inquiries processed at the level of healthcare organizations, a decrease in the share and number of written inquiries to public authorities, and a reduction in the processing timeframes. The above-mentioned activities, together with the adoption of other managerial decisions based on the results of the analysis of customer inquiries, allowed improving medical care availability and quality and, consequently, the customers’ satisfaction with healthcare in the region.