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.

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.