Customer service is now a big part of hospitals’ strategic planning and it's leading to hotel-like amenities and restaurant-quality menus, according to an article on the Healthcare Dive website.

Competition with other health systems, worry over new healthcare entrants like retail clinics and telehealth firms, reimbursement changes that incent hospitals to improve the patient experience and increased transparency via Yelp and other social media outlets are fueling the hospitality trend.

According to a report by Deloitte, hospitals with excellent ratings on CMS’ Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient satisfaction survey had a net profit margin of 4.7%, on average, compared with just 1.8% for hospitals with low ratings during the period 2008-2014, the article said.

Hospitals are realizing that great clinical outcomes are just not enough to create brand loyalty.

Read the article.