Prospective Cohort Study on the Impact of Early Versus Late Inpatient Palliative Care on Length of Stay and Cost of Care.

To evaluate the impact of early vs late palliative care on (1) length of stay (LOS) in the context of expected LOS measures and (2) total cost of care to the hospital for each patient. A prospective cohort study was performed at a single large academic medical center on patients who received an inpatient palliative care consultation. The two cohorts were early palliative care (within 3 days of admission) and late palliative care (after 3 days of admission).

Prevalence and predictors of mother-infant skin-to-skin contact at birth: findings from a U.S. tertiary medical center.

Background: Immediate skin-to-skin contact has well-established benefits for both mother and baby. However, its implementation varies widely, with limited data on predictors.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate prevalence, duration, and maternal and newborn predictors of immediate skin-to-skin contact following vaginal deliveries.

An Exploration of Gender Bias Affecting Women in Medicine.

Women in medicine face barriers that hinder progress toward top leadership roles, and the industry remains plagued by the grand challenge of gender inequality. The purpose of this study was to explore how subtle and overt gender biases affect women physicians, physician leaders, researchers, and faculty working in academic health sciences environments and to further examine the association of these biases with workplace satisfaction. The study used a convergent mixed methods approach.

Does Coaching Hospitalists in a Community Hospital Improve the Measured Experience of Care?

Hospitals initiate physician communication training programs expecting to improve patient experience measures. However, most efforts have relied on methods with limited attention to bedside physician-patient interactions. We conducted an intensive in-person hospitalist coaching program to improve patient experience in a community hospital.

Direct-to-Consumer Hospital Advertising and Domestic Medical Travel in the United States.

Expanding hospitals' geographic market area has been proposed as a means to increase competition and reduce healthcare costs. However, most patients in the United States receive care locally and are unlikely to seek out distant hospitals, effectively limiting competition to local markets. We hypothesize that mass media advertising can help overcome patients' reluctance to travel for elective medical care.

Predicting HCAHPS scores from hospitals' social media pages: A sentiment analysis.

Background: Social media is an important communication channel that can help hospitals and consumers obtain feedback about quality of care. However, despite the potential value of insight from consumers who post comments about hospital care on social media, there has been little empirical research on the relationship between patients' anecdotal feedback and formal measures of patient experience.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to test the association between informal feedback posted in the Reviews section of hospitals' Facebook pages and scores on two global items from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, Overall Hospital Rating and Willingness to Recommend the Hospital.

Hospital Advertising, Competition, and HCAHPS: Does It Pay to Advertise?

Objective: To test whether hospital advertising expenditures predict HCAHPS global ratings.

Data Sources/study Setting: We examined media advertising expenditures by 2,142 acute care hospitals in 209 markets in the United States. Data on hospital characteristics, location, and revenue came from CMS reports; system ownership was obtained from the American Hospital Association.

The value of patients' handwritten comments on HCAHPS surveys.

Some patients write comments on their Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys, but survey vendors do not record them, and the value of this anecdotal information is not well understood. However, many rating websites contain both numerical ratings and anecdotal comments from consumers who wish to share their experiences, and the option to write comments enhances the appeal of these survey forums. Recent research shows that numerical ratings do not sufficiently capture the range of consumer experiences and that comments contain additional information that complements survey responses.

Consumers' use of HCAHPS ratings and word-of-mouth in hospital choice.

Objective: To investigate the impact of the HCAHPS report of patient experiences and word-of-mouth narratives on consumers' hospital choice.

Data Sources: Online consumer research panel of U.S.

Predicting health plan member retention from satisfaction surveys: the moderating role of intention and complaint voicing.

Many health plans have tried to increase member retention by improving their scores on customer satisfaction surveys. However, prior research has demonstrated weak relationships between member satisfaction and retention, suggesting that other variables are needed to understand how satisfaction impacts member retention. In a longitudinal study 4,806 health plan members who completed satisfaction surveys were re-assessed three years later; we compared measures of satisfaction, intention, and complaining behavior from voluntary disenrollees and retained members.

Price and consumer cost responsibility effects on quality perceptions and price negotiation likelihood for healthcare services.

This paper presents the results of an experimental study that assessed potential differences in consumer quality perceptions and price negotiation likelihood for three healthcare procedures: a routine physical, rhinoplasty, and a root canal, based on varying levels of price and consumer cost responsibility. Results of this study did not support a general positive price-perceived quality relationship for any of the three procedures. However, several significant effects were observed for price negotiation likelihood.