New cumulative data on hospitals, children's hospitals, outpatient surgery departments and ambulatory surgical centers is out from the Leapfrog Group. Here are the five big takeaways:
1. An average of 62% of parents and caregivers gave high marks for feeling equipped on reporting concerns over preventing potential medical errors.
Leapfrog Group said caregivers are almost always at their child's bedside, and are apt to notice when something is wrong and should feel empowered to speak freely. This decreases the chances of a medical error.
2. Average patient experience scores were better in all categories for patients who went to ambulatory surgical centers—regardless of owner type—than for patients who went to a hospital's outpatient department for same-day procedures.
Ambulatory surgical centers scored especially higher when patients were asked about the likelihood they would recommend the facility to friends or family, at almost 88%, six percentage points better than patients that went to an outpatient hospital setting.
3. Hospitals, on average, aren't doing well in managing care transitions.
A little over 50% of patients who had an inpatient stay reported the best experience with both understanding what they needed to do for their health condition when they got home and feeling heard by staff when expressing what they might need when they got home. Both of these things can impact whether a patient ends up readmitting.
4. Children's hospitals appear to be better at communication information regarding medication.
A little over 80% of caregivers on average said they both were asked about prescriptions children were on, and family members were clearly informed about any new medications and possible side effects. Meanwhile, 64% of adults receiving care in inpatient hospital settings reported that they were always told what new prescriptions were for and any potential side effects.
5. On average, patients at both ASCs (97.3%) and hospital outpatient departments (96.4%) gave the most favorable responses to how they were treated by staff and the cleanliness of the facility.
This included questions about the check-in process, courtesy from receptionists and doctors, and if people were given anesthesia and were clearly informed about the process and potential side effects.
Hospital surveys came from 2019 HCAHPS of 3,571 hospitals; children's hospital information came from 99 hospitals based on data from 2019 and 2020; and surveys from 363 ambulatory surgical centers and 1,252 outpatient hospital departments were collected for 2020.
