A Novel Approach to Improving Patient Experience in Orthopedics

The patient experience domain comprises a significant portion of the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program. This study investigated whether an intervention focusing on attending physician awareness, resident and physician assistant education, and multidisciplinary patient-centric care had an effect on patient perceived physician communication and overall hospital ratings. Responses to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey were reviewed in 2014 and 2015. Patients' perceptions that the physician explained their condition in ways they understood and the overall hospital rating improved significantly after implantation of the model (P < .05). Patient-physician communication is important for high-quality health care and is becoming increasingly more important in hospital economics. These methods may serve as a protocol for other institutions to improve the patient experience.