A Gallup analysis of HCAHPS survey data found that patients who rated themselves as healthy gave a higher rating for perceived hospital quality during a hospital stay than did less healthy patients, according to the Gallup Business Journal.
Among patients who rated their health as 'excellent,' 82 percent gave their hospital a nine or a 10 perceived quality rating. Among patients who said their health was 'poor' or 'fair,' only 59 percent gave their hospital a nine or 10 for perceived quality.
Levels of positive emotion may have been responsible for whether or not patients felt healthy. A separate recent Gallup World Poll showed that self- reported emotions effectively predict health better than hunger, homelessness or threats to safety. In that poll, emotions accounted for 46.1 percent of variance in self-reported health.
In the context of the HCAHPS survey analysis, these findings mean that employing strategies like scheduled check-ins post-discharge may improve patient emotions and perceptions of care. This appears to be key for hospitals wishing to improve their patient satisfaction scores, a determining factor for Medicare and Medicaid Reimbursements.
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