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Patient survey spotlights problem areas for Calif. hospitals

Patients ranked only one in five California hospitals as above average.

By Damon Adams, amednews staff. Sept. 24, 2001.

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California hospitals get passing grades for paying attention to the comfort of their patients.

However, they receive poor marks when it comes to preparing the patient for the transition to home.

These are some of the findings in a new patient survey of California hospitals by the California HealthCare Foundation and the California Institute for Health Systems Performance. The report, released last month, measured the experiences of 21,151 patients who spent at least one night in a participating hospital.

Approximately one-third of the state's hospitals, or 113 hospitals, volunteered to take part in the survey. They were rated from one to three stars: three stars for above average, two for average and one for below average.

More than half of the hospitals (65) rated average. Earning above average marks were 22% of the hospitals (25) while 20%, or 23 hospitals, got one star.

Organizers noted the Patients' Evaluation of Performance in California survey did not measure clinical outcomes or competence of medical staffs.

But they say the survey is a valuable tool to educate consumers and to stimulate hospital quality improvement initiatives throughout the state.

"It's not our intent to be a 'gotcha' at all," said Ann Monroe, director of the California HealthCare Foundation's Quality Initiative. "We'd like to see [hospitals] use this information to improve care for patients. We hope this will encourage dialogue between physicians and patients."

Kaiser Permanente had all 27 of its California hospitals take part in the survey. Only one garnered three stars. The rest were rated average or below average. [...]