Keywords

satisfaction, patient satisfaction, patient care, HCAHPS, patient centered care, healthcare, healthcare expenditures, centers for Medicare and Medicaid services

Abstract

Patient satisfaction is a widely used healthcare metric. However, the connection between patient healthcare outcomes and patient satisfaction remains poorly defined. Despite wide use of patient surveys, their relationship to patient outcomes is unclear; this is especially true regarding morbidity, mortality, prescription drug abuse or addiction, healthcare utilization, and expenditures. Since patient satisfaction is used to determine part of provider reimbursement (Department of Health and Human Services, 2015), healthcare providers may seek to improve patient satisfaction instead of healthcare outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to review the relationship between healthcare outcomes and patient satisfaction. In so doing, it is hoped to help answer the question of, “should patient satisfaction be used as a core measure for provider reimbursement?”