Eli's Rehab Report

CALABASAS, Calif. -- Heads up, therapists: Insurers, employers and others that give you business are paying closer attention to your patients' satisfaction -- especially as talk of potential pay-for-performance systems spreads.

"Patient satisfaction data is both a valuable tool for assessing the quality of healthcare and a key measure in pay-for-performance systems," said PTPN president Michael Weinper, MPH, PT, in a Jan. 17 press release announcing the independent rehabilitation therapist network's patient satisfaction score of 95.4 out of 100.

The PTPN Patient Satisfaction Survey measures indicators such as treatment effectiveness, therapists' knowledge and helpfulness, home program compliance, office cleanliness, office staff courtesy, and scheduling convenience.

"It's crucial that providers demonstrate the efficacy of their treatment to insurers, employers, accrediting bodies, and patients themselves," Weinper said. "These stakeholders are increasingly using patient-centered outcomes and satisfaction measures to select and even compensate providers." 

In a recent PTPN survey of health plan executives, employers and other payers, 100 percent said that quality control oversight was very important or important in choosing a rehabilitation network. "Until now, it's been difficult to measure quality," Weinper said. "But one way to do that is to measure patient satisfaction -- an intrinsic element of quality."