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Association Between Patient Satisfaction and Short-Term Outcomes After Major Cancer Surgery

  • Health Services Research and Global Oncology
  • Published:
Annals of Surgical Oncology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate whether patient satisfaction, as measured by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, is associated with short-term outcomes after major cancer surgery.

Materials and Methods

We first used national Medicare claims to identify patients who underwent a major extirpative cancer surgery from 2011 to 2013. Next, we used Hospital Compare data to assign the HCAHPS score to the hospital where the patient underwent surgery. We then performed univariate statistical analyses and fit multilevel logistic regression models to evaluate the relationship between excellent patient satisfaction and short-term cancer surgery outcomes for all surgery types combined and then by each individual surgery type.

Results

We identified 373,692 patients who underwent major cancer surgery for one of nine cancers at 2617 hospitals. In both unadjusted and adjusted analyses, hospitals with higher proportions of patients reporting excellent satisfaction had lower complication rates (p < 0.001), readmissions (p < 0.001), mortality (p < 0.001), and prolonged length of stay (p < 0.001) than hospitals with lower proportions of satisfied patients, but with modest differences. This finding held true broadly across individual cancer types for complications, mortality, and prolonged length of stay, but less so for readmissions.

Conclusions

Hospital-wide excellent patient satisfaction scores are associated with short-term outcomes after major cancer surgery overall, but are modest in magnitude.

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Acknowledgements

David C. Miller and Deborah R. Kaye received the support from National Cancer Institute (Grant Nos. 1-R01-CA-174768-01-A1 and 5-T32-CA-180984-03).

Disclosures

Dr. Miller receives salary support from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan for his work in the Michigan Value Collaborative and as director of the Michigan Urological Surgery Improvement Collaborative. Dr. Ellimoottil receives salary support for his role as the director of analytics for the Michigan Value Collaborative.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dow Division of Health Services Research, Department of Urology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Deborah R. Kaye MD, Zaojun Ye MS, Lindsey A. Herrel MD, MS, Chad Ellimoottil MD, MS & David C. Miller MD, MPH

  2. Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Caroline R. Richardson MD, Lindsey A. Herrel MD, MS, Chad Ellimoottil MD, MS & David C. Miller MD, MPH

  3. Department of Family Medicine, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

    Caroline R. Richardson MD

Authors
  1. Deborah R. Kaye MD
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  2. Caroline R. Richardson MD
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  3. Zaojun Ye MS
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  4. Lindsey A. Herrel MD, MS
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  5. Chad Ellimoottil MD, MS
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  6. David C. Miller MD, MPH
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Deborah R. Kaye MD.

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Kaye, D.R., Richardson, C.R., Ye, Z. et al. Association Between Patient Satisfaction and Short-Term Outcomes After Major Cancer Surgery. Ann Surg Oncol 24, 3486–3493 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-017-6049-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1245/s10434-017-6049-2

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