Blog Post
Southern California Kaiser scores lower on satisfaction than competing hospitals
Posted by: Michael A. Kelly
March 31, 2008
Topic: Kaiser Malpractice
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services recently completed a survey of 2,500 hospitals in an effort to gauge patient satisfaction. The survey focused on issues including whether nurses and doctors listened to patients, were courteous and respectful, and how they dealt with complaints of pain. The Los Angeles Times reported on the survey on March 29.
The highest scoring hospital was Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, where 87% of its patients said they would "definitely recommend" the hospital to other people.
The highest scoring Kaiser hospital was in Woodland Hills, where 63% of patients would "defintely recommend" their hospital to others. Other Kaiser hospitals, like those in Hollywood, Harbor City, West L.A., Riverside, Bellflower, Fontana, and Panorama City, scored between 50% and 56% on the same question. In fact, as the Times pointed out, "None of the 10 Kaiser hospitals in Southern California that participated in th survey exceeded the regional average."
Of course, these rating beg the question: do the low survey scores translate into increased medical malpractice at Kaiser? Further study on this point would be even more useful to patients because it would allow the appropriate authorities to address a more fundamental issue: can we not only increase satisfaction, but also decrease preventable errors at hospitals?
