Study: Hospital satisfaction ratings climbing

New research by healthcare quality measurement firm Press Ganey Associates has concluded that patients' perceptions of U.S. hospitals improved slightly last year, despite some entrenched complaints which don't seem to be going away over time. Patients gave hospitals an overall rating of 84.2 out of 100 points, up 1.2 points from five years ago. At the same time, however, patients continue to be dissatisfied with room conditions, food quality and problems in the discharge process.

Cities with the highest hospital satisfaction rates were Oklahoma City, Milwaukee, New Orleans, Indianapolis and Columbia, Ohio. Smaller hospitals scored better than larger ones, with 50-bed hospitals achieving an 86.9 percent score while 600 bed plus hospitals achieved 80 percent satisfaction rates. The ratings also looked at specific departments, noting that OB/GYN services got the highest numbers, with anesthesiology and ICU following.

To get more satisfaction data:
- read this Wall Street Journal article (sub. req.)

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