Characteristics of Hospitals Demonstrating Superior Performance in Patient Experience and Clinical Process Measures of Care

TLDR

Hospital quality of care is multidimensional, as prior research indicates. The study jointly examines patient experience and clinical care measures across 2,583 hospitals discharged in 2006–2007. Multinomial logistic regression identifies key characteristics of hospitals that rank in the top quartile on both, either, or neither quality dimension. Top performers on both measures are small (<100 beds), large (>200 beds), rural, located in New England or West North Central divisions, and nonprofit; those excelling only in patient experience are mostly small, rural, East South Central, and government owned; those excelling only in clinical care are medium to large, urban, West North Central, and non‑government owned.

Abstract

Prior research suggests hospital quality of care is multidimensional. In this study, the authors jointly examine patient experience of care and clinical care measures from 2,583 hospitals based on inpatients discharged in 2006 and 2007. The authors use multinomial logistic regression to identify key characteristics of hospitals that perform in the top quartile on both, either, and neither dimension of quality. Top performers on both quality measures tend to be small (&lt;100 beds), large (&gt;200 beds) and rural, located in the New England or West North Central Census divisions, and nonprofit. Top performers in patient experience only are most often small and rural, located in the East South Central division, and government owned. Top performers in clinical care only are most often medium to large and urban, located in the West North Central division, and non—government owned. These findings provide an overview of how these dimensions of quality vary across hospitals.