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Improving Satisfaction in Patients Receiving Mental Health Care: A Case Study

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Abstract

Patient satisfaction is increasingly becoming an important component of quality for behavioral health care systems. The following report describes Group Health Cooperative’s Behavioral Health Services department experiences over a 5-year period in moving from uncertainty about the value of patient satisfaction and the ability to positively impact patient ratings to achieving a significant improvement in patient ratings of satisfaction with mental health care. In this process, the Behavioral Health Department developed a deeper understanding of patient requirements and improvement strategies which could impact these requirements. A description of the results achieved along with the role of quality improvement processes in understanding and improving patient satisfaction in mental health care is presented.

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Notes

  1. Simon, G. Relationship between depression treatment and patient satisfaction—unpublished manuscript.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge the work of the Behavioral Health Services Patient Experience Work Team including Gregory Hinch, Kris Laaninen, M.Ed., Brian Mercer and Jean Todd, MHA. We would also like to acknowledge the sponsors of this work, the clinic and administrative managers and all of our staff who carried out these improvement initiatives.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group Practice Division, Group Health Cooperative, 201 16th Avenue, East, Seattle, WA, 98112, USA

    Marlan Crosier BS

  2. Behavioral Health Services, Group Health Cooperative, 1730 Minor Avenue, Seattle, WA, 98101, USA

    Jennifer Scott BA

  3. Behavioral Health Services, Group Health Cooperative, 950 Pacific Avenue, South, Suite 900, Tacoma, WA, 98402, USA

    Bradley Steinfeld PhD

Authors
  1. Marlan Crosier BS
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  2. Jennifer Scott BA
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  3. Bradley Steinfeld PhD
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Correspondence to Bradley Steinfeld PhD.

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Crosier, M., Scott, J. & Steinfeld, B. Improving Satisfaction in Patients Receiving Mental Health Care: A Case Study. J Behav Health Serv Res 39, 42–54 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11414-011-9252-0

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