Associations Between Nonclinical Services and Patient-Experience Outcomes in US Acute Care Hospitals

Abstract

Background Patient experience is an important measure of hospital quality and performance. Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, patient experiences with their care encounters are embedded into the framework of payment incentives. However, drivers of patient experience in the context of the supportive, nonclinical, services that relate to patient care have not been as well understood. Aims To assess the role of organizational factors on patient experience. Methods This cross-sectional analysis integrates hospital patient-experience scores from Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Service data from 2013 to 2015 (N = 3392). Based on hospitals with "top-box" responses, the aggregate proportion of hospital patients responding "always" on a Likert scale represented a top-box hospital. Domains were split at the mean for analysis (above average = 1). Multivariable logistic regression models for each domain were analyzed against hospital factors and services, including offering a patient education center, patient-enabling services, and language services. Results Most hospitals reported a full-time hospitalist (64.4%) and a patient education center (60.4%), while fewer provided enabling/support services (33.7%). In multivariable models, small and medium hospitals performed better compared to the largest hospitals (300+ beds; P