Patient Satisfaction is Rising, Despite Managed Care Backlash
Despite the negative publicity that plagues managed care, patient satisfaction has surged over the last two years, according to a new survey by Deloitte & Touche, a New York-based market research firm.
Its report, 1998 U.S. Hospitals and the Future of Health Care, finds that 62% of hospitals nationwide report a 49% jump in patient satisfaction.
The survey of more than 600 hospital CEOs, CFOs and COOs indicates that hospitals are becoming more customer-focused as in-patient occupancy levels decline.
Additional findings include:
- Investor-owned hospitals are more likely to report increases in patient satisfaction (72%) than other hospital types, including religious/church-owned (59%) or large hospitals with at least 500 beds (59%).
- Despite the fact that managed care provides coverage for one out of five hospital patients, the understanding level of hospital employees, physicians and executives has not significantly improved since 1996. Only 25% of physicians report being "very knowledgeable about the impact of managed care on their practice payments and only 27% of hospital employees are comfortable with hospital's cost of services under managed care contracts. (Deloitte & Touche, Pia DeVitre, 212/598-3652)
New Birth Statistics Show Promise
Finally, after a few years of bleak national birth statistics, the news is good for healthcare communicators, particularly in the prenatal care arena. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reports declines in three key areas-smoking during pregnancy and the birthrate among unmarried women and African-American women.
The report also shows an improvement in prenatal care.
The National Center for Health Statistics compiled data from 1996, the most recent information available, and found that births in this country declined slightly to 3,891,494, the lowest level since 1987.
Other key findings include:
- The birth rate among unmarried women was 1 percent lower than in 1995 and 4 percent lower than 1994;
- The birth rate among African-American women plunged 18%, its lowest level since 1969 when statistics were first reported along racial lines;
- Cigarette smoking during pregnancy continues its downward trend to 13.6% in 1996 from 20% in 1989; and
- The number of multiple births shot up, most likely due to the increased use of fertility drugs. For instance, the number of triplet, quadruplet and other multiple deliveries rose 19% between 1995 and 1996. (HHS, 301/827-6250)
Economic Factors Influence Breast Cancer Reporting
Socioeconomic factors, cultural beliefs and attitudes play a key role in how soon breast cancer in African-American women is detected, according to a new study by East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.
Research signals the need for more targeted outreach initiatives that address the lack of private healthcare insurance and low-income situations.
African-American women have lower access to medical care and are less likely to undergo breast cancer screening than white women. Thirty percent of breast cancers in whites and 11% in African-Americans were discovered during routine mammography screenings.
And awareness of breast cancer symptoms was significantly higher in whites, upper-income people and better-educated women.
Cultural factors like beliefs, attitudes and knowledge about cancer tend to vary dramatically along racial lines. These factors include healthcare utilization, religious beliefs, relationships with men and perceived risk or fatalism.
For instance, African-American women with late-stage breast cancer were reluctant to seek medical attention because of their fear about how the men in their lives would react, according to the study.
This study is published in the June 9 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. (East Carolina University, Donald R. Lannin, 252/816-2481)