Feb 15 2012
Modern Healthcare: Study Questions Utility Of Satisfaction Scores
Newly released research has linked higher patient satisfaction scores with greater healthcare costs and increased risk of mortality. Despite the growing reliance on satisfaction scores as a tool for evaluating physician performance, "research suggests a tenuous link between patient satisfaction and healthcare quality and outcomes," according to the study published online Feb. 13 in the Archives of Internal Medicine (McKinney, 2/13).
The Sacramento Bee: Satisfied Patients Not Always Healthiest, UC Davis Study Shows
In fact, satisfied patients are more likely to be hospitalized, have higher health care costs and be more likely to die than less-satisfied ones, according to a study released Monday by UC Davis researchers. … [The study] is believed to be the first to suggest that emphasizing patient satisfaction could have unanticipated adverse effects (Garza, 2/14).
Related, earlier KHN story: When TLC Doesn't Satisfy Patients, Elite Hospitals May Pay A Price (Rau, 11/7)
 This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente.
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