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Using public reports of patient satisfaction for hospital quality improvement

Health Services Research, June, 2006 by Judith K. Barr, Tierney E. Giannotti, Shoshanna Sofaer, Cathy E. Duquette, William J. Waters, Marcia K. Petrillo

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One specific aspect of the public reporting process that respondents particularly noted was the statewide pilot survey, prior to the collection of data for the first public report. For the pilot, patient satisfaction survey data were reported back only to individual hospitals and not publicly released. It gave the hospitals time to review their own results and to develop and implement improvement initiatives in advance of the survey that would be publicly reported. Many hospitals used the pilot data to identify new areas for QI, as well as to validate existing QI efforts. Advantages of the pilot data noted by these respondents were that the pilot survey results provided information that was specific enough to be translated into QI activities, and supported QI efforts. The quotes below indicate that respondents used the pilot survey results to identify areas where improvement was needed and to initiate or continue QI activities in these areas.

   I don't know if we would have identified this as an issue without
   it [the pilot]; in fact, I really don't believe we would have
   identified it without this particular survey.... It wasn't a
   specific question at all in our homegrown.

   It was the pilot survey that brought it to our attention.... We
   wanted to know what needed improvement. This was totally new
   information to us; it was different data from what we had
   previously collected.

   Some of the findings needed to be further clarified by
   conducting a couple of focus groups but overall they were
   actionable.

   The pilot survey served as a nice tool to allow us to focus on
   something objective.... The fact that it was going public gave us
   some internal leverage to reinforce why ... we were saying this was
   important.

Even with the advantages of the pilot data, a theme voiced by key staff at all of the hospitals was that, when they became available in 2001, the public report results were used to validate earlier findings by the hospital and to support existing QI initiatives, as well as to identify new areas for improvement. For some hospitals, despite the availability of the pilot data, release of the public report helped to raise awareness within the hospital, serving as a "wake-up call" or "cold slap in the face" for hospital staff. Other hospitals used the data to focus and refine their QI efforts

   It's extremely valuable to know this. This is the voice of our
   customer, and this is something we haven't really heard that well
   before. And I think ... doing it with a vendor, doing this
   particular set of questions, having to publicly report this
   information, has created such an awareness and ... listening on our
   end, that I think that we're learning something really valuable.

   We used these results to analyze where our patients told us that we
   had opportunities for improvement, so that we could develop
   strategies as part of that service quality initiative.

Hospital Context for QI

Health Care Industry

Using public reports of patient satisfaction for hospital quality improvement

Health Services Research, June, 2006 by Judith K. Barr, Tierney E. Giannotti, Shoshanna Sofaer, Cathy E. Duquette, William J. Waters, Marcia K. Petrillo

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