Hospital payments will soon be tied in part to patient satisfaction

Oct 16 2012

The Wall Street Journal reports that, in the year ahead, nearly $1 billion in payments to hospitals will be based in part on patient satisfaction.

The Wall Street Journal: U.S. Ties Hospital Payments To Making Patients Happy
Nearly $1 billion in payments to hospitals over the next year will be based in part on patient satisfaction, determined by a 27-question government survey administered to patients. Hospitals with high scores will get a bonus payment. Those with low ones will lose money (Adamy, 10/14).

Also in the news, The Boston Globe reports on hospital-acquired infections --

The Boston Globe: Penalty, Infection Link Hard To Gauge
Since 2006, hospitals across the country have become safer on at least one count: The rate at which patients acquire infections from catheters to their heart or bladder has declined considerably. But the improvement has little to do with a federal penalty program launched in 2008 to target the problem, according to a study by Harvard researchers published last week by the New England Journal of Medicine (Conaboy, 10/15).