Researchers of a recent study said that many patients are not satisfied with the care they receive at U.S. hospitals. In the study the authors studied the data collected by the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey in an ongoing survey of patients at all hospitals that get Medicare payments. Six areas were covered which were communication with doctors, with nurses and about medications; and quality of nursing services, discharge information and pain management. Almost one-third of patients gave low ratings to pain management, and one-fifth gave low ratings to communication at discharge.

Dr. Ashish K. Jha, an assistant professor for health policy at the Harvard School of Public Health and study author said, "These data represent a sea change for the health-care system. Until now, we have had no high-quality information about how patients perceive the care they receive. Even though we spend $2 trillion on health care, you would think that things like always managing patients' pain in the hospital is something we would have gotten right by now," Jha said.

The report published in the Oct. 30 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine said that 63% of respondents rated care a 9 or 10 on a scale of zero to 10. Anne-Marie Audet, vice president for quality improvement and efficiency at the Commonwealth Fund, which funded the study said, "When you look at this data, you can recognize that no one is doing that great."

Dr. Steffie Woolhandler, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and co-founder of Physicians for a National Health Program, said that for-profit hospitals rated lower in patient satisfaction."The study suggests a simple way to simultaneously improve quality and save money -- get rid of for-profit hospitals," Woolhandler said. "The study shows that for-profit hospitals have significantly lower ratings and once more affirms that profit-seeking has no role in care of the sick."

Jim Conway, senior vice president at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement said, "Governing boards and leaders have to say that, 'In this hospital, nothing is more important than the patient,' “he said. "If there is not that clarity of purpose, great results will not be achieved."

Jha concluded to say "By making this information publicly available, I hope hospitals will begin to pay more attention, and I hope patients will pay more attention. Hopefully, this will motivate them to choose higher quality providers. Through that, I hope hospitals will begin to improve."