Hospice and Patient Centered Care - The Facility Experience

"amenities are a critical part of the patient experience and possibly even a valuable component of patient-centered care" How Does Your Hospital Room Make You Feel? By PAULINE W. CHEN, M.D Published: December 16, 2010 While most of us, doctor and patient, would agree that having at least a few amenities would be nice, they don’t come cheap. Improving a hospital’s nonclinical services has been shown to be more costly than similar adjustments in clinical care; and it’s unclear whether the benefits are worth the cost. Third party payers like Medicare currently underwrite a large portion of these services when they pay a fixed amount for each patient discharged with a certain diagnosis. But under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, these expenditures could come under more scrutiny. Hospitals will be reimbursed according to a value-based payment system; and those “values,” which have yet to be determined, may not include the nonclinical aspects of a patient’s experience. That is unless all of us, doctors and patients, can finally acknowledge that all aspects of a patient’s hospital experience count. “Whether Medicare dollars should be used for these services is an important question,” Dr. Romley said. “But the happiness and joy that these amenities provide for patients over the course of what is otherwise a difficult experience is something we should respect.” Added Dr. Goldman: “It’s not just about patient survival anymore; it’s also about the patient experience.”

Posted via email from Hospice Volunteer Training Online