10.02.2011New CQ Index Hospitals successful for Santeon hospitals and health insurers

As a first in the Netherlands, a group of hospitals executed a patient experience survey - the CQI (Consumer Quality Index) – in conjunction with health insurers and supported by the Federation of Patients and Consumer Organisations in the Netherlands (NPCF).  Health insurers already carry out a paper version of the CQ Index biannually, but only among a limited group of clinical patients.  With this new index, the six Santeon hospitals can unequivocally chart their quality, on a hospital, speciality, diagnosis and DBC level, from a patient’s perspective. This year, other hospitals can participate in this survey as well.

For the first survey round, more than 60,000 patients were invited to participate, over 20 percent of whom filled in the questionnaire. On average, patients give the Santeon hospitals an eight. They particularly appreciate the doctors’ expertise, the communication with nurses and doctors, the explanation concerning treatment and the pain policy. The survey also provided useful information to improve healthcare. For example with regard to admission and release, communication about medication, and facilities in outpatient clinics. Hospitals can also use the information for mutual comparison and to learn from each other. Health insurers and patients’ associations support this initiative, since the hospitals can show patients and health insurers whether and to what extent patients are satisfied.

Participation other hospitals
“After this trial round, the Santeon hospitals will carry out the survey twice a year. This will prompt us to keep enhancing our care. In the future, patients can read the information on our websites and take it into consideration when deciding which hospital they want to be treated at. We hope that in the course of 2011 other hospitals will join the CQI Hospitals. Then, more hospitals will be able to compare their levels of healthcare quality”; says Dr. Douwe J. Hemrika, chairman of the Board of Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis and chairman of Santeon.

Advantages CQI Hospitals
Health insurers already carry out a paper version of the CQ Index biannually, but only among a limited group of clinical patients. As Santeon Hospitals, we can now structurally measure the clinical and outpatient-clinical experiences of a large group of patients: for the entire hospital, per location and on a speciality, (main) diagnosis and DBC level. We can compare hospitals on all these criteria. The results are immediately available online, in contrast to the ‘old’ paper CQ index, the data of which were only available later on and therefore often out-of-date. As of this spring, we will use the new CQI Hospitals questionnaires, which are short, validated questionnaires about outpatient clinics and admission.

Transparency in healthcare
Up until now, the mutual comparison of hospitals was hard because hospitals, health insurers, comparison sites and patients’ associations measure patient experiences by different methods. This is why Santeon and the Miletus Foundation – a cooperative of health insurers for measuring patient experiences in healthcare – decided to launch this new CQ index. This initiative is supported by the Federation of Patients and Consumer Organisations in the Netherlands. The online reporting tool was developed in collaboration with the Mediquest research group, and the methodology and questionnaires were approved by the Dutch Centre for Consumer Experience in Health Care (CKZ).

Santeon is a national hospital group aspiring to achieve the highest quality of healthcare and hospitality. What binds us is a shared passion for innovative care and hospitality. In a joint effort, we continually explore pioneering solutions to offer the best medical care to our patients. Santeon is a cooperative of Canisius-Wilhelmina Hospital in Nijmegen, Catharina Hospital in Eindhoven, Martini Hospital in Groningen, Medisch Spectrum Twente in Enschede, Onze Lieve Vrouwe Gasthuis in Amsterdam and St. Antonius Hospital in Utrecht, Nieuwegein.