A Medical Anthropologist’s Guide to the Patient Experience with Lisa Allen, PhD

Physician's Guide to Doctoring with Bradley B. Block, MD

Dr. Lisa Allen serves as the Chief Patient Experience Officer for Johns Hopkins Medicine. We discuss how strategies applied at Hopkins can be brought to smaller practices and how larger practices can give the boutique feel of smaller practices. The theme that kept coming up was that it is all about making the patients feel welcome, from training staff, to your own demeanor as a physician, to the aesthetic of the office. We also discuss complaints vs. formal grievances and how each is addressed and we end on changes made during the pandemic.

Before joining Johns Hopkins, Dr. Allen was the system vice president for quality, patient experience and patient safety with Steward Health Care System, an 11-hospital, community-based accountable care organization serving more than 1 million patients annually in 85 communities throughout Massachusetts. In this position, she successfully introduced patient-centered care, including best practices, to improve Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores.

Known for her collaborative leadership style, Dr. Allen served as the associate vice president for quality, patient safety and experience at UMass Memorial Health Care, the largest provider of health services for central and western Massachusetts. She also led patient safety and quality efforts for 20 years as the director of quality management and outcomes measurement at Hartford Hospital in Connecticut.

Dr. Allen earned her Ph.D. and M.A. in medical anthropology and community medicine from the University of Connecticut. She holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural anthropology from San Diego State University.