Journal of Healthcare Management - July/August 2015 - (Page 268)

Pay for Performance: Are Hospitals Becoming More Efficient in Improving Their Patient Experience? Anthony Charles Stanowski, DHA, FACHE, vice president, Applied Medical Software, Collingswood, New Jersey; Kit Simpson, DrPH, professor, Department of Health Science and Research, College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston; and Andrea White, PhD, professor emerita, Department of Healthcare Leadership and Management, College of Health Professions, Medical University of South Carolina E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) changed the way hospitals interact with patients when it implemented a pay-for-performance (P4P) system. Under this system, a financial reward or penalty is based in part on measures of patient experience. The program seeks to reward healthcare providers who expand their focus from solely delivering a highly technical set of services that improves the patient's health to creating an atmosphere that makes hospitalization more humane and respectful of patients' values and preferences. Refocusing priorities requires capital investment in more "patient-friendly" facilities or funding staff training programs. This study seeks to determine whether a relationship exists between inpatient costs and the score for "overall rating of hospital" (ORH) on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) hospital version survey. Second, if a relationship exists, the study examines how that relationship changed during the time of CMS' implementation of its P4P program. The study's findings suggest that higher-cost hospitals have higher levels of positive patient experiences, after controlling for other variables. Importantly, the research findings indicate that hospitals are becoming more efficient in delivering care associated with higher levels of patient experience, coinciding with implementation of the P4P program. For more information about the concepts in this article, contact Dr. Stanowski at astanowski@comcast.net 268

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Journal of Healthcare Management - July/August 2015

Journal of Healthcare Management - July/August 2015
Contents
Interview With Mario J. Garner, EdD, FACHE, President and CEO of New Orleans East Hospital
Finding the Path to Innovation
Trending in 2015: Population Health
Nurse Against Nurse: Horizontal Bullying in the Nursing Profession
A Community Hospital–County Health Department Partnership to Reduce Preventable Readmissions: Lessons Learned for Population Health Management
Pay for Performance: Are Hospitals Becoming More Efficient in Improving Their Patient Experience?
Facilitating Implementation of Interprofessional Collaborative Practices Into Primary Care: A Trilogy of Driving Forces

Journal of Healthcare Management - July/August 2015