title: Hospital-level correlation between clinical and service quality performance for heart failure treatment.
abstract: A national cross-sectional study correlates the satisfaction ratings of heart failure patients (diagnosis related group 127) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' process-based quality measures for heart failure treatment for 32 hospitals during the first and second quarters of 2004. Two of the four measures of clinical quality showed statistically significant, moderately strong, positive correlations with a global measure of satisfaction and with, respectively, 5 and 7 subscales of the 10 subscales of satisfaction under examination (Pearson's r ranged between .40 and .67, 2-tailed; p < .05). Findings demonstrate that quality need not be a zero-sum issue, with clinical quality and service quality competing for resources and attention.
authors.affiliation: Press Ganey Associates, Inc.
authors.forename: Sabina B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Gesell
authors.forename: Paul Alexander
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Deirdre E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Mylod
authors.forename: Robert J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Wolosin
authors.forename: Maxwell
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Drain
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lanser
authors.forename: Melvin F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Hall
mesh_terms: D002303:Cardiac Output, Low / Q000628:therapy*; D014487:Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, U.S.; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003625:Data Collection; D006761:Hospitals; D006801:Humans; D007297:Inpatients; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States