BackgroundMeasures of patient satisfaction have gained prominence in recent years as changes to the American health care system have led to the incorporation of such metrics into reimbursement models. The response rate for widely-used outpatient satisfaction metrics and variables influencing the probability of survey nonresponse remain largely unknown.MethodsWe reviewed all unique adult patients (16,779) who completed an outpatient encounter in the Department of Orthopaedic surgery at our academic institution from 1/1/13 to 10/24/13. Survey data was linked to each clinic visit, and patient factors including age, sex, insurance type, zip code, and orthopaedic subspecialty visited were recorded.The overall survey response rate was calculated. Logistic regression was performed, and unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios of patients’ probability of responding to the Press-Ganey survey were calculated.ResultsTwo thousand seven hundred sixty two (16.5 %) of individuals completed a Press-Ganey patient satisfaction survey and 14017 patients did not respond. For those patients considered responders, 906 patients (32.8 %) did not complete all the survey items. Among these 906 patients, the mean number of missing items was 2.24 (Standard Deviation SD: 2.19).Age, sex, insurance type, and orthopaedic subspecialty were all found to be associated with the odds of responding to our patient satisfaction survey. Advancing age increased the odds of responding to the survey (Adjusted Odds Ratio (OR) = 3.396 for ≥65 vs. 18–29, p < 0.001). Several variables were associated with a decreased odds of survey response, and included male sex (Adjusted OR = 0.782 for Males vs. Females, p < 0.001), insurance type (Adjusted OR = 0.311 for Medicaid/Self-Pay vs. Private), and subspecialty type (Adjusted OR = 0.623 for Trauma vs. Adult Reconstruction).ConclusionsThe response rate to the Press-Ganey Medical Practice Survey of outpatient satisfaction is low in an orthopaedic outpatient population, and furthermore, is impacted by patient characteristics such as age, sex, insurance type, and type of orthopaedic subspecialist encountered. The findings of the present study should inform future non-response weighting procedures in this area. More research is needed to assess non-response bias—including follow-up studies of non-respondents—in order to more accurately measure of patient satisfaction.

This study identifies modifiable factors that may lead to cost reductions for CTR surgery.

BackgroundThe Press Ganey® Medical Practice Survey (“Press Ganey® survey”) is a patient-reported questionnaire commonly used to measure patient satisfaction with outpatient health care in the United States. Our objective was to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Press Ganey® survey in a single institution setting.MethodsWe analyzed surveys from 34,503 unique respondents seen by 624 providers from 47 specialties and 94 clinics at the University of Utah in 2013. The University of Utah is a health care system that provides primary through tertiary care for over 200 medical specialties. Surveys were administered online. The Press Ganey® survey consisted of 24 items organized into 6 scales: Access (4 items), Moving Through the Visit (2), Nurse Assistant (2), Care Provider (10), Personal Issues (4) and Overall Assessment (2). Missingness, ceiling and floor rates were summarized. Cronbach’s alpha was used to evaluate internal consistency reliability. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess convergent and discriminant validities.ResultsMissingness was 0.01% for the total score and ranged from 0.8 to 11.4% across items. The ceiling rate was high at 29.3% for the total score, and ranged from 55.4 to 84.1% across items. Floor rates were 0.01% for the total score, and ranged from 0.1 to 2.1% across items. Internal consistency reliability ranged from 0.79 to 0.96, and item-scale correlations ranged from 0.49 to 0.9. Confirmatory factor analysis supported convergent and discriminant validities.ConclusionThe Press Ganey® survey demonstrated suitable psychometric properties for most metrics. However, the high ceiling rate can have a notable impact on quarterly percentile scores within our institution. Multi-institutional studies of the Press Ganey® survey are needed to inform administrative decision making and institution reimbursement decisions based on this survey.

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