An Effective Program to Reduce Malpractice Claims and Payments in a Large Orthopaedic Practice.

Background: High reliability in health care requires a balance between intentionally designed systems and individual professional accountability. One element of accountability includes a process for addressing clinicians whose practices are associated with a disproportionate share of patient complaints. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the Patient Advocacy Reporting System (PARS), a tiered intervention model to reduce patient complaints about clinicians.

Coworker Reports about Unprofessional Behavior in Plastic Surgery.

Background: Patient reports of unprofessional conduct by surgeons have been linked to postprocedure complications and increased risk for malpractice claims. Coworkers are also positioned to observe and report unprofessional behaviors, including concerns related to delivery of competent medical care, clear and respectful communication, integrity, and responsibility. This study compared rates of coworker concerns between plastic surgeons and other physicians (other surgical specialists and nonsurgeons), and characterized whether plastic surgery subspecialties differed in their rates of complaints.

Patient Complaints in Orthopedic Surgery: An Analysis Utilizing a Large National Database.

Introduction: Unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) about surgeons correlate with surgical complications and malpractice claims. Analysis of UPCs in orthopedics is limited.

Methods: Patient complaint reports recorded at 36 medical centers between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2018 were coded using a previously validated coding algorithm Patient Advocacy Reporting System.

Unsolicited patient complaints among radiation, medical, and surgical oncologists.

Background: Unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) about physician practices are nonrandomly associated with malpractice claims and clinical quality. The authors evaluated the distributions and types of UPCs associated with oncologists by specialty and assessed oncologist characteristics associated with UPCs.

Methods: This retrospective study reviewed UPCs associated with US radiation oncologists (ROs), medical oncologists (MOs), and surgical oncologists (SOs) from 35 health care systems from 2015 to 2018.

Do neurosurgeons receive more patient complaints than other physicians? Describing who is most at risk and how we can improve.

Objective: The number of unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) about surgeons correlates with surgical complications and malpractice claims. Using a large, national patient complaint database, the authors sought to do the following: 1) compare the rates of UPCs for neurosurgeons to those for other physicians, 2) analyze the risk of UPCs with individual neurosurgeon characteristics, and 3) describe the types of UPCs made about neurosurgeons.

Methods: Patient and family complaint reports among 36,265 physicians, including 423 neurosurgeons, 8292 other surgeons, and 27,550 nonsurgeons who practiced at 33 medical centers (22 academic and 11 regional) from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017, were coded with a previously validated Patient Advocacy Reporting System (PARS) algorithm.

Association of Coworker Reports About Unprofessional Behavior by Surgeons With Surgical Complications in Their Patients.

Importance: For surgical teams, high reliability and optimal performance depend on effective communication, mutual respect, and continuous situational awareness. Surgeons who model unprofessional behaviors may undermine a culture of safety, threaten teamwork, and thereby increase the risk for medical errors and surgical complications.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that patients of surgeons with higher numbers of reports from coworkers about unprofessional behaviors are at greater risk for postoperative complications than patients whose surgeons generate fewer coworker reports.

Unsolicited Patient Complaints among Otolaryngologists.

Objectives: To analyze unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) among otolaryngologists, identify risk factors for UPCs, and determine the impact of physician feedback on subsequent UPCs.

Methods: This retrospective study reviewed UPCs associated with US otolaryngologists from 140 medical practices from 2014 to 2017. A subset of otolaryngologists with high UPCs received peer-comparative feedback and was monitored for changes.

Unsolicited Patient Complaints Identify Physicians with Evidence of Neurocognitive Disorders.

Objectives: Determine whether words contained in unsolicited patient complaints differentiate physicians with and without neurocognitive disorders (NCD).

Methods: We conducted a nested case-control study using data from 144 healthcare organizations that participate in the Patient Advocacy Reporting System program. Cases (physicians with probable or possible NCD) and two comparison groups of 60 physicians each (matched for age/sex and site/number of unsolicited patient complaints) were identified from 33,814 physicians practicing at study sites.

Qualitative Content Analysis of Coworkers' Safety Reports of Unprofessional Behavior by Physicians and Advanced Practice Professionals.

Objectives: The aims of the study were to develop a valid and reliable taxonomy of coworker reports of alleged unprofessional behavior by physicians and advanced practice professionals and determine the prevalence of reports describing particular types of unprofessional conduct.

Methods: We conducted qualitative content analysis of coworker reports of alleged unprofessional behavior by physicians and advanced practice professionals to create a standardized taxonomy. We conducted a focus group of experts in medical professionalism to assess the taxonomy's face validity.

Association Between Ophthalmologist Age and Unsolicited Patient Complaints.

Importance: Understanding the distribution of patient complaints by physician age may provide insight into common patient concerns characteristic of early, middle, and late stages of careers in ophthalmology. Most previous studies of patient dissatisfaction have not addressed the association with physician age or controlled for other characteristics (eg, practice setting, subspecialty) that may contribute to the likelihood of patient complaints, unsafe care, and lawsuits.

Objective: To assess the association between ophthalmologist age and the likelihood of generating unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) among a cohort of ophthalmologists.

Academic Urological Surgeons have Greater Exposure to Risk Management Activity than Community Urological Surgeons: An Empirical Analysis of Patient Complaint Data.

Introduction: Previous research reveals associations between patient complaints and urological subspecialty, but relationships between complaints and practice environments have gone untested. In this study we explored whether associations exist between the types and rates of patient complaints filed against urological surgeons and their practice environments, defined as academic (medical school faculty) or community (independent medical group members). Complaints are a surrogate for malpractice litigation risk, so understanding the variables that drive complaints may suggest risk reduction interventions.

Use of Unsolicited Patient Observations to Identify Surgeons With Increased Risk for Postoperative Complications.

Importance: Unsolicited patient observations are associated with risk of medical malpractice claims. Because lawsuits may be triggered by an unexpected adverse outcome superimposed on a strained patient-physician relationship, a question remains as to whether behaviors that generate patient dissatisfaction might also contribute to the genesis of adverse outcomes themselves.

Objective: To examine whether patients of surgeons with a history of higher numbers of unsolicited patient observations are at greater risk for postoperative complications than patients whose surgeons generate fewer such unsolicited patient observations.

Using Coworker Observations to Promote Accountability for Disrespectful and Unsafe Behaviors by Physicians and Advanced Practice Professionals.

Background: Health care team members are well positioned to observe disrespectful and unsafe conduct-behaviors known to undermine team function. Based on experience in sharing patient complaints with physicians who subsequently achieved decreased complaints and malpractice risk, Vanderbilt University Medical Center developed and assessed the feasibility of the Co-Worker Observation Reporting System(SM) (CORS (SM)) for addressing coworkers' reported concerns.

Methods: VUMC leaders used a "Project Bundle" readiness assessment, which entailed identification and development of key people, organizational supports, and systems.

Unsolicited Patient Complaints in Ophthalmology: An Empirical Analysis from a Large National Database.

Purpose: The number of unsolicited patient complaints about a physician has been shown to correlate with increased malpractice risk. Using a large national patient complaint database, we evaluated the number and content of unsolicited patient complaints about ophthalmologists to identify significant risk factors for receiving a complaint.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Patient Complaints and Adverse Surgical Outcomes.

One factor that affects surgical team performance is unprofessional behavior exhibited by the surgeon, which may be observed by patients and families and reported to health care organizations in the form of spontaneous complaints. The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between patient complaints and adverse surgical outcomes. A retrospective cohort study used American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data from an academic medical center and included 10 536 patients with surgical procedures performed by 66 general and vascular surgeons.

Stuck in a moment: an ex ante analysis of patient complaints in plastic surgery, used to predict malpractice risk profiles, from a large cohort of physicians in the patient advocacy reporting system.

Introduction: Unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) serve as a powerful predictor of increased risk of malpractice claims, and reductions in UPCs, through targeted physician interventions, lower incidence of lawsuits and decrease cost of risk management. We analyzed UPCs, verified by trained counselors in patient relations, to determine the malpractice risk of plastic surgeons, compared to dermatologists, all surgeons, and all physicians, from a national patient complaint registry.

Methods: We examined the patient complaint profiles and risk scores of 31,077 physicians (3935 surgeons, 338 plastic and reconstructive surgeons, and 519 dermatologists), who participated in the Patient Advocacy Reporting System, a national registry of UPCs.

An intervention model that promotes accountability: peer messengers and patient/family complaints.

Background: Patients and their families are well positioned to partner with health care organizations to help identify unsafe and dissatisfying behaviors and performance. A peer messenger process was designed by the Center for Professional and Patient Advocacy at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (Nashville, Tennessee) to address "high-risk" physicians identified through analysis of unsolicited patient complaints, a proxy for risk of lawsuits.

Methods: This retrospective, descriptive study used peer messenger debriefing results from data-driven interventions at 16 geographically disparate community (n = 7) and academic (n = 9) medical centers in the United States.

An analysis of risk factors for patient complaints about ambulatory anesthesiology care.

Background: Anesthesiology groups continually seek data sources and evaluation metrics for ongoing professional practice evaluation, credentialing, and other quality initiatives. The analysis of patient complaints associated with physicians has been previously shown to be a marker for patient dissatisfaction and a predictor of malpractice claims. Additionally, previous studies in other specialties have revealed a nonuniform distribution of complaints among professionals.

Best practices for basic and advanced skills in health care service recovery: a case study of a re-admitted patient.

Background: Service recovery refers to an organizations entire process for facilitating resolution of dissatisfactions, whether or not visible to patients and families. Patients are an important resource for reporting miscommunications, provider inattention, rudeness, or delays, especially if they perceive a connection to misdiagnosis or failed treatment. Health systems that encourage patients to be "the eyes and ears" of individual and team performance capitalize on a rich source of data for quality improvement and risk prevention.

All trauma surgeons are not created equal: asymmetric distribution of malpractice claims risk.

Background: Trauma surgery is perceived to have high malpractice risk. Unsolicited patient complaints (UPCs) can predict increased malpractice risk. An ex ante analysis of UPCs was performed to determine the risk profile for trauma surgeons compared with nontrauma surgeons.

Medical malpractice claims risk in urology: an empirical analysis of patient complaint data.

Purpose: Patient complaints are associated with physician risk management experience, including medical malpractice claims risk, and small proportions of physicians account for disproportionate shares of claims. We investigated whether patient complaint experience differs among urologists, and whether urological subspecialists generate distinct quantities and types of complaints.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study examined 1,516 unsolicited patient complaints filed against 268 urologists.

Using risk management files to identify and address causative factors associated with adverse events in pediatrics.

We report a retrospective analysis of 84 consecutive pediatrics-related internal review files opened by a medical center's risk managers between 1996 and 2001. The aims were to identify common causative factors associated with adverse events/adverse outcomes (AEs) in a Pediatrics Department, then suggest ways to improve care. The main outcome was identification of any patterns of factors that contributed to AEs so that interventions could be designed to address them.