Nov 9 2011
In the coming months, Medicare will start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals.
Kaiser Health News: When TLC Doesn't Satisfy Patients, Elite Hospitals May Pay A Price
Winning praise from patients has become a pressing -; and often elusive -; obsession for ... hospitals nationwide. In the coming months, Medicare will start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals. Disgruntled patients will mean reduced revenue, a frightening prospect for hospitals already facing empty beds because of the recession and pressure from insurers to hold down costs (Rau, 11/8).
The Wall Street Journal: A Financial Incentive For Better Bedside Manner
How patients feel they were treated has always colored their opinions of a hospital. Now, those feelings are being factored into how hospitals get paid. Starting next fall, the federal Medicare program will withhold 1% of a vital payment-;totaling an estimated $850 million, with the percentage doubling to 2% in 2017-;as part of a program in last year's U.S. health-care overhaul designed to force hospitals to improve the quality of care and trim costs (Landro, 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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