Types of healthcare organizations – hospitals, clinics, outpatient surgery centers, Urgent Care/ER (increased prevalence
since Covid), ancillary services. Healthcare organizations focus on quality patient care but now reimbursement for
hospitals is tied to patient experience scores. Two primary ways a patient determines their level of satisfaction: Hedonic
characteristics – reds/oranges stimulate emotion of excitement and anxiety. Blues/greens related to emotions of calm
and soothing. Pediatrics – colorful/friendly/entertaining. Cancers – spa-like. (Warm blankets/refreshments/cable tv-GC
for waiting) Utilitarian characteristics – flexibility/text messaging/valet/wait times. (Time/efficiency/expense important)
Jefferson Scale of Empathy (JSE)
AIDET – Acknowledge, Introduce oneself, tell the Duration, Explain the procedure, Thank the patient. It is a tool to
provide effective patient communication.
Four major types of hospitals are community hospitals (nonfederal acute care), federal government hospitals, nonfederal
psychiatric care, and nonfederal long-term care. There are also seven major specialty hospital classifications: women’s
hospitals, children’s hospitals, cardiac hospitals, oncology hospitals, psychiatric hospitals, trauma centers, and cancer
treatment centers. Level 1 is the highest level and is best for those patients with the most serious injuries because the
hospital is staffed with surgeons in the hospital 24 hours a day. Level 1 and Level 2 trauma centers are similar in that they
both manage patients with severe injuries. However, the difference with Level 2 trauma centers is that they do not have
the same research and publication expectations. Additionally, in Level 1 trauma centers, the director of the intensive care
unit (ICU) is required to be a surgeon who is board certified in surgical critical care. In Level 3 trauma centers, their role is
to evaluate and then stabilize the patient and transfer them to a Level 1 or Level 2 trauma center whenever necessary. A
Level 4 trauma center might be in a rural community. In these trauma centers, the emergency department provides
advanced trauma life support (ATLS) before transferring those patients requiring a higher level of care. A Level 5 trauma
center is the most basic emergency facility. post prices beginning in January 2021 (CMS, 2021). As part of this policy,
standard charges must be posted in two ways: a machine-readable file and a consumer-friendly display of services. The
machine-readable file must contain the standard charges for all items and services provided by the hospital including
gross charges, discounted cash prices, payor-specific negotiated charges, and de-identified minimum and maximum
negotiated charges. For the consumer-friendly display of services, hospitals must display at least 300 “shoppable
services”
In healthcare marketing, the term “cannibalization” refers to a healthcare organization losing revenue (patients) caused
by the expansion of one or more of their new facilities. Instead of attracting new patients, cannibalization means that the
new patients would have sought treatment in their other existing healthcare facility.
Patient satisfaction is extremely important to hospitals due to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),
which requires hospitals to survey patients using the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and
Systems (HCAHPS).
Touch points are those points of contact a patient has with anyone associated with the hospital including healthcare
providers, billing personnel, radiology technicians, phlebotomists, food service, environmental services (housekeeping),
and so forth. A patient’s satisfaction may be determined by the value they associate with hedonic and utilitarian value
characteristics. Hedonic value involves multisensory, emotional aspects such as the politeness of the staff, the softness of
the sheets, the comfort of the bed, the aesthetics of the room, and the taste and selection of the food service—those
things that result in immediate gratification. Utilitarian value focuses more on efficiency and is task oriented, such as how
long the physician talked with the patient, how well pain was managed, and whether the nurse quickly solved problems
when brought to their attention.
The seven CAHPS survey items that measure provider communication and overall provider rating were used to
determine if any relationships existed between provider empathy and patient satisfaction. Four of the six communication
items on the CAHPS were significantly correlated with the JSE scores: “the provider’s ability to explain information
clearly, listen carefully, provide understandable information, and show respect” (Chaitoff et. al., 2017, p. 1466).
The term reimbursement in healthcare refers to how providers and healthcare organizations receive payment for the
services provided to patients. In the United States, the major categories of payors (those who pay for healthcare
services) include: commercial insurance (Aetna, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, United, etc.), Medicare (governmental
insurance for the elderly and disabled), Medicaid (governmental insurance for the poor), TRICARE (for active duty and
retired military and dependents), and self-pay (uninsured).
Soft organ, a patient is asked to drink contrast (barium). vascular system as in a CT, an iodinated contrast material is
injected via an intravenous line, and the blood flow is seen in the images. In ultrasound, sound waves are used to create
images. In MRI, radiofrequency pulses are converted to images, and in nuclear medicine, radioactive isotopes are
administered.