Patient satisfaction at XYZ Medical Group

Project Goals
At XYZ Medical Group, we strive to provide excellent pediatric care to our patient population. The question that we want answered is “Does XYZ Medical Group meets the needs of its patients.” We also want to see the relationship between patient overall experiences and, if asked, will they refer their family and friends to our organization. Additionally, we want to see how we compare to other organizations in today’s health care environment.
The 2014 XYZ Medical Group Patient Assessment Survey project evaluated the pediatric patient experience with the quality of care received during calendar year 2013. We will also have the opportunity to compare our survey results to the 2013 California Patient Assessment Survey (PAS), conducted for calendar year 2013 by California Healthcare Performance information Systems (CHPI), which evaluated 173 California Physician organizations. Our survey asked commercially-insured patients enrolled in Health Maintenance Organizations (HMOs) and Preferred Provider Organizations (PPOs) to evaluate certain areas of quality, primarily focusing on:
• Access to care
• Interactions between doctors and patients
• Helpfulness of office staff
• Overall ratings of the doctor

Literary Review Patient satisfaction surveys have been utilizes for years in United States and in other countries, including the United Kingdom. In an article, “Can patients assess the quality of health care” by Coulter A., the author talks about how in the United Kingdom providers who implement patient satisfaction surveys are reworded with contractual points and more money. We, at XYZ Medical Group use the same principles as discussed by Coulter in his article. We tie positive patient feedback to potential bonuses and compensation. Like our British counterparts, we use the survey results to improve the quality of care we provide to our patients through training and revalidation. It is crucial for us to communicate to our patients the need to participate in the patient satisfaction surveys when they have the opportunity. Patients need to understand that we are willing to work with them and are welcoming their feedback with willingness to improve where needed. Additionally patients need to know that they can make a difference in the care they receive through open and honest communication. In an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) by Marshall MN, talks about how for years information about the performance of hospitals, health professionals, and health care organizations has been published in United States, but the average individual does not utilize it. The article states that the public is slowly becoming more aware of the information available to them, and the power they possess if they participate in the improvement process. The data is available in the form of “report cards”, “provider profiles”, or “consumer reports” that force health care organizations and providers to reevaluate their performances. The article states that to improve quality of care we need to publish satisfaction surveys to show our concerns and satisfaction. These acts will interne force physicians to re-evaluate their behaviors and thus change. It states that meaningful published data is an important part of engaging the key stakeholders. The article states that with the published data, and educational support there will be positive change in physician behavior. In an article “Choice of a personal physician and patient satisfaction in health maintenance” (Schmittdiel J.), out of 10205 surveyed individuals, patients who chose their personal physician (n=4748) were 16 to 20 percentage points more likely to rate their satisfaction as "excellent" or "very good" than patients who were assigned a physician (n=5457) for 9 satisfaction measures (P