National patient experience data and correlation with in-hospital adverse gynecologic cancer surgical outcomes.

Abstract

21 Background: The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a patient experience and quality of care measure that impacts hospital reimbursement. HCAHPS data is made available to the public through Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Given the potential implications for healthcare decision-making, this study sought to determine the utility of hospital-level data from the HCAHPS survey as a predictor of in-hospital postoperative outcomes in gynecologic cancer patients by creating a link with the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database, an inpatient care database developed for the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP). Methods: 2009-2011 HCAHPS survey data was used to assign hospitals into terciles by scores. The NIS database was used to identify admissions for cancer-specific surgeries for patients with ovarian, uterine, and cervical cancers. Outcomes included complications, mortality, and prolonged length of stay. Mixed effects models compared correlation of outcomes and HCAHPS scores, after adjustment for patient-level and hospital-level variables. Results: 17,509 linked encounters in 651 hospitals across the U.S. were identified, with 51% uterine, 40% ovarian, and 9% cervical cancer surgical admissions. In-hospital mortality was less likely in hospitals in the highest vs. lowest tercile of summary HCAHPS scores (odds ratio (OR) 0.54, 95% CI: 0.31-0.94). While higher scores were not associated with overall postoperative complications, by complication subcategory, admissions in top tercile hospitals were less likely to have surgical complications (OR 0.82, 95% CI 0.69-0.98). No differences were found in risk of medical or nursing-related complications, or prolonged hospitalization (p > 0.05). Conclusions: For patients undergoing gynecologic oncology surgery, assessment of patient experience has limited correlation with in-hospital adverse surgical outcomes. Awareness of the limitations of HCAHPS survey data may better inform patients as consumers and highlights the importance for transparency of relevant quality measures.