Tying Patient Satisfaction to Medicare Reimbursement is Problematic

TheCommuter, BSN, RN

Patient satisfaction surveys have been receiving an amplified amount of attention at hospitals and other types of healthcare facilities, especially since the results of these reviews now have a significant effect on Medicare reimbursement.

Valuable information can be gleaned from the comments and feedback that patients provide when they fill out and return the surveys to the facilities where they previously received care. In addition, patient feedback is a remarkably important tool that helps the healthcare facility to harvest data, discover perceptions of the care being rendered, and gather suggestions on how to improve.

Still, patient satisfaction surveys are not exactly free from problems. In fact, patient satisfaction surveys are problematic for several reasons.

First of all, the results of these patient satisfaction surveys are entirely subjective and do not always reflect the quality of the care that clinicians are delivering. For instance, many of the most poorly rated facilities have some of the best patient outcomes, including lower than average death rates, low readmission rates, and a minimal number of hospital-acquired infections. Good facilities and skilled healthcare workers are two of the main ingredients that make favorable patient outcomes possible, but a handful of nitpicky patients can destroy one hospital's overall patient satisfaction rating by returning surveys where they've responded to every single question with 'one.' A survey score of 'one' translates to 'very poor' care, even though the patient who returned these dismal responses actually might have had an excellent outcome that was free of complications.

On the other hand, many of the most favorably rated facilities have some of the worst patient outcomes, including higher than average patient death rates. A USA TODAY analysis of more than 4,600 U.S. hospitals has found that 120 of those most highly rated by patients have higher than average death rates for heart attack, heart failure or pneumonia (USA TODAY, 2011). However, a patient's perception is his reality, so he will return a survey with appreciative responses to every single question if the care was perceived as being good, even if the inpatient stay is taking place at a hospital with a high percentage of poor outcomes.

Secondly, the corporations that formulate patient satisfaction surveys are exploiting hospital administrators' hopes of using the ratings to market their facilities. One national chain of cancer treatment hospitals regularly uses expensive airtime to broadcast television commercials. The narrator of their TV commercials never fails to mention that "our facilities have an overall 95 percent patient satisfaction rating!" Countless hospitals across the US have resorted to providing customer service measures that sometimes detract from effective patient care as an attempt to alter perceptions and raise patient satisfaction survey scores. Many overworked nurses are spending increasing amounts of time on activities such as the recital of phony scripted phrases and the constant fetching of snacks, sodas, chairs and cots to keep clients happy.

Finally, patient satisfaction surveys can unfairly generate positive ratings for mediocre doctors and bring about poor ratings for highly competent physicians. The physician who coddles the most demanding patients, submits to their unrealistic requests, gives them everything they desire and never says "no" will receive high ratings. In contrast, the doctor who sets realistic limits with patients and says "no" to improper medical care or unnecessary prescriptions will be rated unfavorably. A growing number of patients will be unhappy if they do not get what they want out of their clinicians, even if they do not need the things they are requesting.

Patient satisfaction surveys have their place in the realm of healthcare because the opinions of the people to whom we provide care are essential. However, the surveys are based on subjective perceptions instead of objective metrics such as infection rates and patient outcomes. In view of the fact that patient satisfaction surveys consist of subjective data, the responses should not be tied to Medicare reimbursement rates.

RESOURCES

USA TODAY Publishes Analysis of Death Rates at More Than 4,600 U.S. Hospitals. (August 2011). usatoday.com. Retrieved March 7, 2013, from About USA TODAY

Tying Patient Satisfaction to Medicare Reimbursement is Problematic

About TheCommuter, BSN, RN

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