Patient Satisfaction With Outpatient Services Reaches Five-Year High

SOUTH BEND, IND—Outpatient service facilities play an instrumental role in the nation's healthcare system, and a recent report from Press Ganey illustrates how satisfied U.S. patients are with their treatment. Patient satisfaction with outpatient services has reached a five-year high, according to Press Ganey's 2009 Outpatient Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care. This report analyzes patients' satisfaction with outpatient facility care, including insight from 2.3 million patients treated at nearly 1,300 outpatient care facilities nationwide last year. 
 
Outpatient care, which includes laboratory tests, therapy, diagnostic testing and other treatments, continued to meet or exceed patient expectations overall, despite the recession in 2008. Satisfaction has increased gradually every quarter since 2004, reaching a high score of 91.29 in October 2008. According to the report, patients were most satisfied with tests, treatment and the overall care in the outpatient setting, but were least satisfied by the facilities and registration processes.
 
A key element to high patient satisfaction with outpatient facilities is wait time. The average wait time for outpatient services in 2008 was 24 minutes -- a 2 percent decrease versus 2007.
 
"Both hospital-based and freestanding outpatient centers have grown in number over the past few years, as has the level of competition, which further underscores the importance of achieving and maintaining high customer satisfaction levels," said Deirdre Mylod, MD,  vice president of acute services at Press Ganey. "It is imperative for outpatient centers to capture and act upon patient satisfaction data in order to stay competitive and profitable."