There are many reasons a patient may be happy or unhappy with his or her hospital stay. The most obvious reason is whether the health issue necessitating that stay has been resolved. But there are many other reasons that patients might or might not be happy, from whether the sink in their room was too small to the lack of current and interesting magazines at hand. The New York Times explains how these seemingly small issues can have a big effect on hospitals:
Winning praise from patients has become a pressing — and often elusive — obsession for NYU and for hospitals nationwide. In the coming months, Medicare will start taking patient satisfaction into account when reimbursing hospitals. Disgruntled patients will mean reduced revenue, a frightening prospect for hospitals already facing empty beds because of the recession and pressure from insurers to hold down costs.