A patient-satisfaction report – part of a program created by legislation in 1998 that aims at improving quality among the state’s health care providers – shows that patients are satisfied with the care they are receiving at hospitals throughout Rhode Island. Satisfied, but not moved to overwhelming praise. Evolving Funding Landscape for Not-for-Profits Not-for-profit organizations are being asked to do more with less,… The report rates 11 acute-care hospitals in nine areas of patient satisfaction. Those areas include patient education, and comfort and cleanliness, to name some. Combined ratings for all of the hospitals fell within the middle two-thirds of hospitals nationally for nearly every category. The Westerly Hospital was the only hospital to receive above-average overall ratings by three patient groups – surgical, medical and obstetric. Most other hospitals received above-average ratings in some categories, but not others. The only facility that scored an overall rating below average for any of the three patient groups was Rhode Island Hospital. Surgical patients at the state’s largest hospital were less than satisfied with admitting procedures. Rhode Island Hospital President Joseph Amaral notes that his hospital has four times the number of beds that any other hospital in the state has and that because of the number of admissions to its emergency room, it is difficult to compare it to other hospitals. “We are a large, urban hospital that provides the bulk of indigent care for the state,” he said. “Is it surprising that admitting is difficult and we have surgical patients that have to wait sometimes? I don’t think so at all.” Dr. Amaral’s point is well taken. We recognize that, overall, hospitals throughout the state – according to the patient satisfaction survey – are largely meeting the needs of the communities they serve. But one conclusion can clearly be gleaned from the survey results. There is room for improvement at all of our hospitals.
Beyond Cash Donations: How New Forms of Giving Are Transforming Not-for-Profit Accounting
Room for improvement
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