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Consumer Assessment (consumer + assessment)
Selected AbstractsCONSUMER ASSESSMENT OF THE SAFETY OF RESTAURANTS: THE ROLE OF INSPECTION NOTICES AND OTHER INFORMATION CUESJOURNAL OF FOOD SAFETY, Issue 4 2006SPENCER HENSON ABSTRACT This paper explores the ways in which consumers assess the safety of food in restaurants and other eating-out establishments, and the resulting impact on restaurant choice. The analysis builds on the existing literature on restaurant choice more generally and a growing body of studies on the impact of official inspection information on the perceived safety of restaurants. Based on a two-stage consumer study in the City of Hamilton in Ontario, Canada, involving focus groups and a postal survey, the research highlights how consumers base their assessment of food safety in restaurants using a range of visible indicators of the experience and/or credence characteristics associated with foodborne illness. These include their observed judgments of restaurant hygiene, the overall quality of the restaurant, external information, including official inspection certificates, and the level of patronage. The use of these broad groups of indicators varies across consumer subgroups according to gender, age, level of education and recollections of past incidences when a restaurant was closed and/or convicted for food safety reasons. [source] The Relationship between Patients' Perception of Care and Measures of Hospital Quality and SafetyHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 4 2010Thomas Isaac Background. The extent to which patient experiences with hospital care are related to other measures of hospital quality and safety is unknown. Methods. We examined the relationship between Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems scores and technical measures of quality and safety using service-line specific data in 927 hospitals. We used data from the Hospital Quality Alliance to assess technical performance in medical and surgical processes of care and calculated Patient Safety Indicators to measure medical and surgical complication rates. Results. The overall rating of the hospital and willingness to recommend the hospital had strong relationships with technical performance in all medical conditions and surgical care (correlation coefficients ranging from 0.15 to 0.63; p<.05 for all). Better patient experiences for each measure domain were associated with lower decubitus ulcer rates (correlations ,0.17 to ,0.35; p<.05 for all), and for at least some domains with each of the other assessed complications, such as infections due to medical care. Conclusions. Patient experiences of care were related to measures of technical quality of care, supporting their validity as summary measures of hospital quality. Further study may elucidate implications of these relationships for improving hospital care. [source] Managed Care Quality of Care and Plan Choice in New York SCHIPHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 3 2009Hangsheng Liu Objective. To examine whether low-income parents of children enrolled in the New York State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) choose managed care plans with better quality of care. Data Sources. 2001 New York SCHIP evaluation data; 2001 New York State Managed Care Plan Performance Report; 2000 New York State Managed Care Enrollment Report. Study Design. Each market was defined as a county. A final sample of 2,325 new enrollees was analyzed after excluding those in markets with only one SCHIP plan. Plan quality was measured using seven Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (CAHPS) and three Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS) scores. A conditional logit model was applied with plan and individual/family characteristics as covariates. Principle Findings. There were 30 plans in the 45 defined markets. The choice probability increased 2.5 percentage points for each unit increase in the average CAHPS score, and the association was significantly larger in children with special health care needs. However, HEDIS did not show any statistically significant association with plan choice. Conclusions. Low-income parents do choose managed care plans with higher CAHPS scores for their newly enrolled children, suggesting that overall quality could improve over time because of the dynamics of enrollment. [source] Psychometric Properties of the Dutch Version of the Hospital-Level Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey® InstrumentHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006Onyebuchi A. Arah Objectives. To assess the reliability and validity of a translated version of the American Hospital-level Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey® (H-CAHPS) instrument for use in Dutch health care. Data Sources/Study Setting. Primary survey data from adults aged 18 years or more who were recently discharged from two multispecialty city hospitals in the Netherlands. Study Design. We used forward and backward translation procedures and a panel of experts to adapt the 66-item pilot H-CAHPS into a 70-item Dutch instrument. Descriptive statistics and standard psychometric methods were then used to test the reliability and validity of the new instrument. Data Collection. From late November 2003 to early January 2004, the survey was administered by mail to 1,996 patients discharged within the previous 2 months. Principal Findings. Analyses supported the reliability and validity of the following 7-factor H-CAHPS structure for use in Dutch hospitals: on doctor's communication, nurses' communication, discharge information, communication about medication, pain control, physical environment of hospital, and nursing services. The internal consistency reliability of the scales ranged from 0.60 to 0.88. Items related to "family receiving help when on visit,""hospital staff introducing self," and "admission delays" did not improve the psychometric properties of the new instrument. Conclusions. These findings suggest that the H-CAHPS instrument is reliable and valid for use in the Dutch context. However, more research will be needed to support its equivalence to the United States version, and its use for between-hospital comparisons. [source] Case-Mix Adjustment of the CAHPS® Hospital SurveyHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 6p2 2005A. James O'Malley Objectives: To develop a model for case-mix adjustment of Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Hospital survey responses, and to assess the impact of adjustment on comparisons of hospital quality. Data Sources: Survey of 19,720 patients discharged from 132 hospitals. Methods: We analyzed CAHPS Hospital survey data to assess the extent to which patient characteristics predict patient ratings ("predictive power") and the heterogeneity of the characteristics across hospitals. We combined the measures to estimate the impact of each predictor ("impact factor") and selected high impact variables for adjusting ratings from the CAHPS Hospital survey. Principle Findings: The most important case-mix variables are: hospital service (surgery, obstetric, medical), age, race (non-Hispanic black), education, general health status (GHS), speaking Spanish at home, having a circulatory disorder, and interactions of each of these variables with service. Adjustment for GHS and education affected scores in each of the three services, while age and being non-Hispanic black had important impacts for those receiving surgery or medical services. Circulatory disorder, Spanish language, and Hispanic affected scores for those treated on surgery, obstetrics, and medical services, respectively. Of the 20 medical conditions we tested, only circulatory problems had an important impact within any of the services. Results were consistent for the overall ratings of nurse, doctor, and hospital. Although the overall impact of case-mix adjustment is modest, the rankings of some hospitals may be substantially affected. Conclusions: Case-mix adjustment has a small impact on hospital ratings, but can lead to important reductions in the bias in comparisons between hospitals. [source] The Combined Effects of Participatory Styles of Elderly Patients and Their Physicians on SatisfactionHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2004K. Tom Xu Objectives. To test whether concordance or discordance of patient participation between patients and physicians is associated with higher satisfaction, and to examine the effects of patients' and physicians' participatory styles on patients' satisfaction with their physicians. Data. Data collected in the Texas Tech 5000 Survey of elderly patients in West Texas were used. Patient satisfaction with their physicians was measured by a single item from the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS), representing patients' ratings of their physicians. Patient participation was measured by an index derived from a three-item instrument and physicians' participatory decision-making (PDM) style was measured by a three-item instrument developed by the Medical Outcomes Study. Methods. An ordered logit multivariate regression was used to investigate the effects of patients' and physicians' participatory styles on satisfaction with physicians. The interaction between patients' participation and physicians' participatory styles was also included to examine the dependency of the two variables. Results. Controlling for confounding factors, a higher PDM score was associated with a higher rating of patient satisfaction with physicians. A higher patient participation score was related to a lower physician satisfaction rating. The combined effect of patients' and physicians' participation styles indicated that for a low patient participation score, a high PDM score was not needed to produce high satisfaction. The greater the discordance in this direction, the higher the satisfaction. However, with a high patient participation score, only an extremely high PDM score would produce relatively high satisfaction. Conclusions. The current study supports the discordance hypothesis. Participatory physicians and patient,physician communications concerning patient participation can promote higher satisfaction. [source] Do Commercial Managed Care Members Rate Their Health Plans Differently than Medicaid Managed Care Members?HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 4 2003Patrick J. Roohan Objective. To determine if members of commercial managed care and Medicaid managed care rate the experience with their health plans differently. Data Sources. Data from both commercial and Medicaid Consumer Assessment of Health Plan Surveys (CAHPS) in New York State. Study Design. Regression models were used to determine the effect of population (commercial or Medicaid) on a member's rating of their health plan, controlling for health status, age, gender, education, race/ethnicity, number of office visits, and place of residence. Data Collection. Managed care plans are required to submit to the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) results of the annual commercial CAHPS survey. The NYSDOH conducted a survey of Medicaid enrollees using Medicaid CAHPS. Principal Findings. Medicaid managed care members in excellent or very good health rate their health plan higher than commercial members in excellent or very good health. There is no difference in health plan rating for commercial and Medicaid members in good, fair, or poor health. Older, less educated, black, and Hispanic members who live outside New York City are more likely to rate their managed care plan higher. Conclusions. Medicaid members rating of their health care equals or exceeds ratings by commercial members. [source] Impact of Label Information on Consumer Assessment of Soy-enhanced Tomato JuiceJOURNAL OF FOOD SCIENCE, Issue 9 2004C.D. Goerlitz ABSTRACT: The impact of label information on the liking and closeness to ideal of tomato juice beverages was examined by having 100 judges assess 3 tomato juice beverages (Campbell's tomato juice, V8 juice, and an experimental tomato juice enhanced with soy) either with or without labeling information. Judges rated overall liking of each product and then rated appropriateness of various attributes (saltiness, tomato flavor, thickness, texture, red color, orange color, and brown color) on 5-point just-right scales. Only half of the judges were presented with product-related label information during evaluation. Overall liking scores were analyzed using repeated-measures ANOVA, whereas different attribute ratings were analyzed using Thurstonian Ideal Point modeling and Chi-square. Product-associated label information did not significantly alter overall liking ratings (P > 0.05), although a significant difference in liking was found between products (P < 0.05). Similarly, the label information did not impact comparison of product attribute levels to ideal attribute levels. Both V8 and Campbell's were significantly different from the ideal for 3 of the attributes (P < 0.05). For the soy-enhanced tomato juice, all 7 attributes were significantly different from the ideal (P < 0.05). In this instance, labeling information had no notable impact on assessments. [source] Language and Regional Differences in Evaluations of Medicare Managed Care by HispanicsHEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2008Robert Weech-Maldonado Objectives. This study uses the Consumer Assessments of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) survey to examine the experiences of Hispanics enrolled in Medicare managed care. Evaluations of care are examined in relationship to primary language (English or Spanish) and region of the country. Data Sources. CAHPS 3.0 Medicare managed care survey data collected in 2002. Study Design. The dependent variables consist of five CAHPS multi-item scales measuring timeliness of care, provider communication, office staff helpfulness, getting needed care, and health plan customer service. The main independent variables are Hispanic primary language (English or Spanish) and region (California, Florida, New York/New Jersey, and other states). Ordinary least squares regression is used to model the effect of Hispanic primary language and region on CAHPS scales, controlling for age, gender, education, and self-rated health. Data Collection/Extraction Methods. The analytic sample consists of 125,369 respondents (82 percent response rate) enrolled in 181 Medicare managed care plans across the U.S. Of the 125,369 respondents, 8,463 (7 percent) were self-identified as Hispanic. The survey was made available in English and Spanish, and 1,353 Hispanics completed one in Spanish. Principal Findings. Hispanic English speakers had less favorable reports of care than whites for all dimensions of care except provider communication. Hispanic Spanish speakers reported more negative experiences than whites with timeliness of care, provider communication, and office staff helpfulness, but better reports of care for getting needed care. Spanish speakers in all regions except Florida had less favorable scores than English-speaking Hispanics for provider communication and office staff helpfulness, but more positive assessments for getting needed care. There were greater regional variations in CAHPS scores among Hispanic Spanish speakers than among Hispanic English speakers. Spanish speakers in Florida had more positive experiences than Spanish speakers in other regions for most dimensions of care. Conclusions. Hispanics in Medicare managed care face barriers to care; however, their experiences with care vary by language and region. Spanish speakers (except FL) have less favorable experiences with provider communication and office staff helpfulness than their English-speaking counterparts, suggesting language barriers in the clinical encounter. On the other hand, Spanish speakers reported more favorable experiences than their English-speaking counterparts with the managed care aspects of their care (getting needed care and plan customer service). Medicare managed care plans need to address the observed disparities in patient experiences among Hispanics as part of their quality improvement efforts. Plans can work with their network providers to address issues related to timeliness of care and office staff helpfulness. In addition, plans can provide incentives for language services, which have the potential to improve communication with providers and staff among Spanish speakers. Finally, health plans can reduce the access barriers faced by Hispanics, especially among English speakers. [source] | ||||||||||