Patient-customer service, to put it mildly, is an opportunity for improvement. Yet, most of the things that bug patients before during and after the visit can be fixed by the doctor and care team. Everyone knows that patients are angry when they have to wait, when the doctor is late and sick care billing and collection makes patients angry. 

Patients interact with disparate elements of the Sick Care system at differing levels of intensity and motivation. A big business has grown around getting patients more involved in an effort to improve their health and insurance IQs. That, theoretically, would lower costs, improve outcomes, and enable and empower patients to make better use of scarce resources.