New Report Shows Higher-Performing Hospitals Earn More Profits
DETROIT (WWJ) - Hospitals with high performance scores in patient care are more profitable, according to the 2011 Pulse Report from Press Ganey, which serves hospitals that represent 66 percent of U.S. hospital admissions.
Analyzing public data on hospital profitability and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey scores, the report found that the top 25 percent of U.S. hospitals with the highest scores on the HCAHPS question about performance were, on average, the most profitable and had the highest clinical scores.
Taken together, the data suggest that excellence in patient experiences, clinical outcomes and financial profitability often occur together.
Robert Draughon, CEO of Press Ganey, said hospitals that are making performance on patient satisfaction and publicly reported clinical core measures a priority are proving to be the most successful.
Excellence in patient experiences, clinical outcomes and financial profitability often occur together, the report concludes, likely because "quality" is often structural or systematic. When an organization focuses on quality, it tends to do so in all areas.
The report also found that since the advent of public reporting of clinical and patient satisfaction data, hospital performance across the board has increased. Compliance rates with evidence-based standards of care have increased for most of the common causes of hospitalization, including heart attacks, heart failure, pneumonia and surgical care.
"With CMS' value-based purchasing (VBP) program – the first national pay-for-performance program – beginning its performance period on July 1 this year, hospitals are more focused than ever on understanding and improving their performance," Draughon said in a release.
"As the largest HCAHPS and third- largest core measures vendor, we are helping hospitals develop and prioritize initiatives that will optimize performance and lead to higher quality outcomes," he continued.
For example, from the time voluntary public reporting began in 2006 to when the Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010, the composite performance score for hospital performance on the heart failure measure set saw a significant increase. Overall, hospital ratings on the HCAHPS survey increased from 64 percent to just over 67 percent over the same time period, also indicating improved performance.
The entire 2011 Pulse Report provides additional details, information and methodology, and is available at www.pressganey.com.
