Independent Risk Factors for Less Than “Top Box” Doctor Communication Patient Experience Survey Scores in an Urban Teaching Hospital

This study explored the independent risk factors for patients giving a less than "top box" score on their Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys in the "doctor communication" domain (DCD). After adjusting for age, gender, length of stay, receiving a postdischarge phone call (PC), new medication during hospitalization, highest education level, language spoken at home, and zip code, results from 803 HCAHPS surveys (from January 1 to December 31, 2023) revealed that not receiving a PC was associated with a more than doubling of the odds that a patient would give less than a "top box" score for the DCD (overall adjusted odds ratio of 2.22; 95% confidence interval: 1.77-2.78) and a nearly doubling the actual probability of doing so (34.3% less than "top box" score if no PC, 17.9% less than "top box" score if PC). These findings support the potential value of a post-discharge patient PC.