Consumer satisfaction lower for hospitals, higher for payers

Consumer satisfaction with health insurers is on the upswing, according to an annual report from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index. Hospitals, however, aren’t quite so lucky.

In 2018, hospitals earned a score of 76 on ACSI’s indicator. Their most recent score is a mere 72, with the decline driven largely by a sizeable drop in consumer rankings for emergency department care, which dipped from a 73 to a 67 over the same period.

Inpatient care also declined but not as steeply, falling from a 77 on the indicator to a 76.

Perhaps reflecting emerging models of care that emphasize growing consumerism in the industry, outpatient care settings are garnering more satisfaction. While outpatient care provided by hospitals dropped on the index from a 78 score in 2018 to a 75, ambulatory care netted a 77 for the second year running.