Introduction
Over the past ten years or so, the patient’s experience with regards to health care has become a priority for all stakeholders in the healthcare sector as has been seen with emphasis majoring on improvement and measurement of this experience. This was spearheaded in part by a report given by the Institute of Medicine, referred to as Crossing the Quality Chasm report and later followed up by the public measures reporting represented by bodies like the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) (LaVela & Gallan, 2014). The aim of this was to improve patient care through implementation of measures of patient experience pay-for-performance and accreditation programs. The ultimate goal of every healthcare
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This short essay addresses the issue of experience of care for patients at Mayo Clinic, evaluating whether the goals set at the hospital are being met and the provocative issues that may impact the hospital setting.
Measurement of the Patient’s Care Experience at Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic is located in Rochester, Minnesota and is a medical research group and practice that is nonprofit with over 55,000 employees inclusive of scientists, physicians, and allied health staff. The hospital setting’s core specialization is the treatment of difficult ailments such as cancer, heart problems and others and it achieves this through tertiary care. According to the hospital, quality is defined as an extensive
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Patients engage in HCAHPS surveys aimed at evaluating their experiences with regards to the quality of care given at various hospital settings (Frith, Anderson & Sewell, 2010; Stanley et al., 2010). Mayo Clinic actively seeks patient feedback that is collected through social media, surveys, comment cards, focus groups, and other tools of communication and the feedback given is usually positive with regards to the group practice integration and patient experience. Implementation of HCAHPS and CAHPS in Mayo Clinics has proved to be beneficial as a large percentage of patients rated the hospital highly with regards to the level and quality of healthcare given. HCAHPS performance surveys indicate that an average of about 80% of patients indicated that the inpatient health care performance meet their expectations. According to the surveys, aspects of the hospital that got excellent ratings included communication of nurses and doctors with their patients, management of pain at the clinic were well done, patient rooms had minimal disturbances and noise, and the hospital bathrooms and rooms were kept highly clean and hygienic (Mayo Clinic.
Due to the increasing financial implications, patient satisfaction has become a growing priority for health care organizations, as well as transitioning the health care organization’s philosophy about the delivery of health care (Murphy, 2014). This CMS value based purchasing initiative has created a paradigm shift in health care in which leaders and clinicians must focus on patient centered care and the patient experience which ultimately will result in better outcomes. Leaders and clinicians alike must be committed to the patient satisfaction. As leaders within the organization, these groups must be role models and lead by example for front-line staff. Ultimately, if patients are satisfied, they are more likely to be compliant with their treatment plans and continue to seek follow up care with their health care provider, which will result in decreased lengths of stay, decreased readmissions, increased referrals and decreased costs (Murphy, 2014). One strategy employed by health care leaders to capture the patient experience, is purp...
HCAHPS is a survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perceptions of their hospital experience. The HCAHPS survey can be used as a method of communication to involve the patients in promoting this change by giving insight on their experience. To improve patient experiences of the quality of care, nurses need to know what factors within the nursing work environment are of influence. This will provide a way for nurses to respond to concerns. There is evidence that performing change of shift nursing report at a patient’s bedside helps patients to be more informed and engaged, and may lead to an improvement in patient satisfaction (Sherman & Sand-Jecklin, 2013).
Patient satisfaction surveys have been in debate being that the concept of ‘patient satisfaction’ is not clear and because this term means something different to everyone (Junewicz & Youngner, 2015). However, Junewicz and Younger (2015) discuss how these surveys can improve aspects of a patient’s care such as humanism, communication, safety, and confidentiality. The part that is still not covered is that these aspects patient satisfaction has no clear relationship with the technical quality of healthcare such as nosocomial infections, surgical complications, and readmission rates (Junewicz & Youngner, 2015).
The interpretation of quality health care varies with each person. Some place emphasis on the ability to access various treatments without interference. Others value the feature of being able to simply select one’s provider. Quality health care, according to the Institute of Medicine (2001), can be defined as care that is “safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable” (p. 3). Furthermore, it should account for, in detail, a patient’s medical history, and improve overall patient well-being.
The patients should receive safe and appropriate care in return for payment equal to the level of care received (“What is Value-Based Care”, 2016). For providers, this means using affordable and proven treatments while also catering to the patient’s needs (“What is Value-Based Care”, 2016). Additionally, this model is built upon measurement which when relayed to the patient will inform them of the scope and cost of their care. Examples of measures that are tracked, provided by the article “What is Value-Based Care,” include: procedural complications, hospital-acquired infections, and readmissions; providers face penalties if these metrics are unacceptable (“What is Value-Based Care”,
In her paper emerging model of quality, June Larrabee discusses quality as a construct that includes beneficence, value, prudence and justice (Larrabee, 1996). She speaks of quality and value as integral issues that are intertwined with mutually beneficial outcomes. Her model investigates how the well-being of individuals are affected by perceptions of how services are delivered, along with the distribution of resources based on the decisions that are made (Larrabee, 1996). She speaks of the industrial model of quality and how the cornerstone ideas of that model (that the customer always knows what is best for themselves) does not fit the healthcare model (Larrabee, 1996). Larrabee introduces the concept that the patient va provider goal incongruence affects the provide (in this case the nurse) from being able to positively affect healthcare outcomes (Larrabee, 1996). The recent introduction of healthcare measures such as HCAHPS: Patients' Perspectives of Care Survey has encouraged the healthcare community to firmly espouse an industrial model of quality. HCAHPS is a survey where patients are asked questions related to their recent hospitalization that identifies satisfaction with case based solely on the individuals’ perception of the care given. This can lead to divergent goals among the healthcare team or which the patient is a member. Larrabee’s model of quality of care model
...lthcare system is slowly shifting from volume to value based care for quality purposes. By allowing physicians to receive payments on value over volume, patients receive quality of care and overall healthcare costs are lowered. The patients’ healthcare experience will be measured in terms of quality instead of how many appointments a physician has. Also, Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements are prompting hospitals, physicians and other healthcare organizations to make the value shifts. In response to the evolving healthcare cost, ways to reduce health care cost will be examined. When we lead towards a patient centered system organized around what patients need, everyone has better outcomes. The patient is involved in their healthcare choices and more driven in the health care arena. A value based approach can help significantly in achieving patient-centered care.
The balance between quality patient care and medical necessity is a top priority and the main concern of many of the healthcare organizations today. Due to the rising cost of healthcare, there has been a change in the focus of reimbursement strategies that are affecting the delivery of patient care. This shift from a fee-for-service towards a value-based system creates a challenge that has shifted many providers’ focus more directly on their revenue. As a result, organizations are forced to take a hard look at the cost of services they are providing patients and then determining if the services and level of care are appropriate for the prescribed patient care.
Today, many Americans face the struggle of the daily hustle and bustle, and at times can experience this pressure to rush even in their medical appointments. Conversely, the introduction of “patient-centered care” has been pushed immensely, to ensure that patients and families feel they get the medical attention they are seeking and paying for. Unlike years past, patient centered care places the focus on the patient, as opposed to the physician.1 The Institute of Medicine (IOM) separates patient centered care into eight dimensions, including respect, emotional support, coordination of care, involvement of the family, physical comfort, continuity and transition and access to care.2
In the healthcare system, quality is a major driving compartment for patient outcomes. The quality of care reflects the outcomes in a patient’s care. According to Feeley, Fly, Walters and Burke (2010), “quality equ...
Health care must be fully accountable for quality and the patient experience is simply the patient's perception of quality. Society should question and debate on how healthcare organizations should show improvement for consumers. This can help organizations create reliable health coverage cost and evaluate medical performances for families and individuals in the future. Physicians and organizations are now evaluating patients with collection of electronic data to improve a patient’s...
According to Fred Lee (2004) hospitals use clinical results and process improvement as a gauge of quality as this data can be readily measured and objective. Conversely, patients judge the quality of care by individual perception. Therein a gap of what the patient’s perception of quality care and how the healthcare providers perceive quality of care is created. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the Gaps Model of Service Quality while comparing the findings of the work done by Fred Lee in the book, If Disney Ran Your Hospital: 91/2 Things You would Do Differently.
Cliff, B. (2012, May/June). Excellence in patient satisfaction within a patient-centered culture. Journal of Healthcare Management, 57, 157-159. http://dx.doi.org/Retrieved from
Patients make up a huge part in achieving service excellence for the healthcare industry. My healthcare facility helps the patients redeem themselves and correct with sensitivity. The patients are my customers, and my healthcare facility must remember our mission and vision of giving spectacular healthcare to our customers who are our priority. By giving quality customer service, my healthcare facility earns the gratitude and patronage of its patients. The patients pass their experiences to their families and that keeps my healthcare facilities’ reputation successful
Mayo Clinic is a hospital that is as well-known by many to be a haven of caring and concerned doctors whos’ sole focus is to give their patients the type of care they would want their families to receive if they were patients. According to Colquitt, LePine, and Wesson (Mayo Case Study, 2014), Mayo Clinic has established a customer service, patient first culture that puts the needs of those whom they serve ahead of other focuses, such as profit or patient quotas. This corporate culture has lead the hospital to become one of the most successful and iconic medical centers in the United States. Colquitt, LePine, and Wesson (Mayo Case Study, 2014) propose several very interesting questions at the end of the reading that they ask readers to ponder.