Hospital efficiency and patient satisfaction

Abstract

The objective of this study was to investigate the relationship between efficiency and patient satisfaction for a sample of general, acute care hospitals in Ontario, Canada. A measure of patient satisfaction at the hospital level was constructed using data from a province-wide survey of patients in mid-1999. A measure of efficiency was constructed using data from a cost model used by the Ontario Ministry of Health, the primary funder of hospitals in Ontario. In accordance with previous studies, the model also included measures of hospital size, teaching status and rural location. Based on the results of this study, at a 95% confidence level, there does appear to be evidence to suggest that an inverse relationship between hospital efficiency and patient satisfaction exists. However, the magnitude of the effect appears to be small. Hospital size and teaching status also appear to affect satisfaction, with lower satisfaction scores reported among non-teaching and larger hospitals. This study did not find any evidence to suggest that hospital location (rural versus urban) or religious affiliation contributed to reports of patient satisfaction in any way not explained by the other measures included in the study. The findings imply that low patient satisfaction cannot be explained by excessive management concentration on efficiency. Managers should analyse some of the underlying causes of patient dissatisfaction before reconfiguring resources. It may be beneficial in larger hospitals to study the aspects of care that patients have reported they prefer in small hospitals.

The Effect of Hospital Size and Teaching Status on Patient Experiences With Hospital Care

“…29 Hospital complexity increases with size, and patients may feel more alienated in big hospitals, resulting in less-positive experiences. 15,30 Lower expectations among patients in small hospitals is a possible explanation for their better scores. 15 Likewise, patients admitted to hospitals that have a university affiliation may expect a high quality of the services and therefore might more easily become disappointed.…”

“…15,30 Lower expectations among patients in small hospitals is a possible explanation for their better scores. 15 Likewise, patients admitted to hospitals that have a university affiliation may expect a high quality of the services and therefore might more easily become disappointed. Also, many patients are familiar with their district hospital and possess knowledge about mitigating circumstances to modify their judgment if they experience low quality.…”

“…The response rate was relatively low, but at the level of many similar studies of patient experiences. 15,18,[32][33][34] In previous studies, favorable patient perceptions were associated with survey participation 34,35 ; however, the impact of nonresponse bias on comparisons between hospitals were small. 33 The sample of hospitals in the present study was representative for Norwegian hospitals, but differences in hospital structures, financing and culture might limit generalization to other hospital systems.…”

On residents’ satisfaction with community health services after health care system reform in Shanghai, China, 2011

“…The authors found that chronically ill and healthy respondents experienced the same satisfaction with community care services. Several studies [29-31] discussed the questionnaire’s design, validity and reliability as it related to patient satisfaction which found that nursing and doctor categories were most notable, and several studies approached different aspects of patient satisfaction [32,33]. …”

Hospital Employee Job Resourcefulness: An Empirical Study and Implications for Health Care Marketing

“…Cost containment is clearly a major issue for administrators, but unfortunately, resource 66 HEALTH MARKETING QUARTERLY cutbacks may ultimately lead to increased patient dissatisfaction (Pink, Murray, and McKillop, 2003). As Schumacher (2005) asserts, "it seems that every year, physicians, nurses, and other members of the delivery team are expected to do more with less" (p. 28).…”