Safety-Net Hospitals Score Lower in Patient Experience, May Fare Poorly under VBP

Safety-net hospitals exhibit lower performance than other hospitals on nearly all measures of patient experience, according to the results of a study published in the September 10, 2012, Archives of Internal Medicine. The study, which included 3,096 U.S. hospitals, found that the greatest differences were in overall hospital rating, with patients in safety-net hospitals less likely to rate the hospital a 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale when compared with patients in non-safety-net hospitals (63.9% versus 69.5%). Also substantial were the differences in the proportion of patients who reported receiving discharge information (2.6% difference) and the proportion of patients who thought they always communicated well with physicians (2.2% difference).