Ideas That Work: There Is Such a Thing as a Free Lunch!

Orthopaedic Associates of Michigan (OAM) at Midtowne, a freestanding surgery center in Grand Rapids, provided free lunches to joint replacement patients and the person who accompanies them to the facility after launching its total joints program four years ago. “We knew when we started this line of service that we needed to offer things that our competition wasn’t providing, and this simple gesture was a value-added, concierge-level of service that we thought would be a great patient satisfier,” says Cara Erickson, RN, BSN, CNOR, the facility’s clinical director.

Patients who underwent joint replacements and their escorts were treated to a lunch from Panera or Jimmy John’s. The total cost for two meals, delivery and tip was about $30. The free lunches ended at OAM in December, partly because increasing case volumes made the practice unsustainable. “However, I really do think it’s a very nice touch that centers just beginning to perform total joints can offer as a way of saying ‘thank you’ for coming to our center,” says Ms. Erickson.