Patient Satisfaction Survey: What does it mean to your bottom line?

The primary objective of The Affordable Care Act is to improve the health care delivery system for all Americans. In April 2011, a reward system initiative for hospitals was announced that focused enhanced reimbursement incentives to hospitals that improved overall care and maintained patient satisfaction. The initiative, known as The Partnership for Patients, utilizes information collected through studies designed to review standards of care, also known as best clinical practice measurements, as well as results from randomly assigned patient satisfaction surveys. This reimbursement initiative begins in fiscal year 2012 for Medicare insured patients and is anticipated to be implemented in the next few years by private insurers whom commonly follow Medicare's lead. Patient satisfaction has become one of the determinants of health care. Patient satisfaction measures include access, outcome, timeliness, effectiveness of service provided, and other key variables intended to improve population health in the United States. Important economic decisions are being influenced as a result of data collected through patient satisfaction surveys. The intent of our study is a better understanding of the impact of linking patient satisfaction and reimbursement and exploring how this process may influence care decisions. This retrospective study reviews one large teaching hospital in the northeast and the effect the patient satisfaction survey instrument has had on its bottom line pre and post the introduction of the Partnership for Patients. It identifies strengths and weaknesses within the hospital that influenced reimbursement and documents changes in care decisions as a result of changes in reimbursement.