Follow the Improving Health Care Blog

I’ve just returned from an inspiring two days in San Francisco. No, I wasn’t touring the wine country – although that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. Actually, I was attending the Press Ganey Regional Education Symposium. Before you roll your eyes at my use of the word “inspiring” to describe a symposium, let me explain. Did you know that the word inspire comes from the Latin verb spirare meaning “to breathe?” Inspiration literally ...

Most of us believe that when we pay more for a name brand product, we are getting more for our money. Some do this even knowing that some companies jack up prices to build a sense of exclusivity for the brand. In fact, marketing research shows that in the absence of evidence of higher quality, consumers still think, “It’s expensive, so it must be good.”

And yet, a casual glance at any issue of Consumer ...

Starting in October, scores from a government-mandated patient satisfaction survey will determine a portion of hospitals’ Medicare payments, and many organizations are worried about the financial fallout. A recent study published in the prestigious Archives of Internal Medicine posited that higher patient satisfaction scores correlate with greater use of hospital services and higher mortality. Some healthcare professionals have jumped on that assertion as proof that because good clinical treatment can be painful and traumatic, patient ...