Yesterday in class we had a really in depth discussion on hospitals. Essentially Hospitals emerged because they were sterile and controlled environments that housed medical technologies and more efficiently allowed doctors to see their patients. I also learned that they were one of the few places that kept medical records. Hospitals were also strategically placed in highly populated, low-income communities since there was a greater need for medical attention and the land was very cheap. For a long time, Hospitals were seen as a place that no one wanted to be. They were the last resort among both the upper and lower class communities. There was even the idea in the 19th century of Miasma, poisonous vapors that came out of poor spaces and bad hygiene.
We later played this game from the New York Times called, "Is this a Hospital or Hotel". You can play using the link here: https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/22/sunday-review/is-this-a-hospital-or-a-hotel.html. After playing the game for a few rounds you will begin to see that the line between what hospitals and hotels look like have increasingly become more blurred, specifically in the architecture and interior design. One of the examples is even from a hospital in my hometown (that I've been to before) and I was still unsure of the correct answer. So that got me thinking about two things: one) that this is an interesting parallel from what hospitals in America used to be associated with and two) why would hospitals be borrowing concepts from hotels?
I turned to a couple articles to helped me answer the question. The first, published on Kaiser Health News, talked at length on how patient satisfaction and "the service side of hospital care" in hospitals had been long overlooked. This has prompted hospitals to start hiring men like Paul Westbrook, who has a background in hotel business at places like the Ritz Carlton and Marriott, to be hired as "Chief Patient Experience Officers." Their job essentially is to ensure that the patients' experience in the hospitals becomes and remains a top priority. However, I was highly suspicious that hospitals would just all of a sudden start caring about their patients overall experience during their stay. There had to be something to make them start caring more about patients.
After a few clicks I learned that in 2012, Medicare started tracking patients' satisfaction. And since, patient satisfaction has been a factor in Medicare reimbursements. Starting October 1, 2012, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services began withholding hospital's medical reimbursements based on the quality of their performance. 30% of the reimbursement decision is derived from the hospital's performance. So the increase in similarities between Hospitals and Hotels isn't out of genuine desire to better the patient-practitioner interactions, but rather to ensure they receive their full reimbursement from Medicare. Medicare even published a page on how patient care is linked to reimbursements.
Back in 2015, only 251 hospitals in the US received a 5/5 star rating. I personally think that rating would be higher if hospital staff actually put the patients first while simultaneously delivering quality care. And I honestly don't think you need to make hospitals have fancy architecture to do that. Sure the upgrades are nice, but it could be as simple making the patients comfort come first and not the doctor's demands. Just simply not waking the patient late at night or in early morning to run test, take vitals, etc. Simple things that could make the experience much more enjoyable. But, if this is what hospitals look like right now, I think we should be a tad concerned about how hospitals will look in the future, especially with numerous big pharmaceutical companies who have major influence.
With that being said, I wonder if this same phenomenon is happening outside the United States? Specifically in countries with universal healthcare?
To explore this topic further, recent news, or to upload your own links, check out the Hospitals page in the Forum.
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