Mixed Mode Substantially Increases Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Response Rates Relative to Single-Mode Protocols

Bibliographic Data

ID9103400
AuthorsMegan K Beckett (RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, corresponding author), Marc N Elliott (0000-0002-7147-5535, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, corresponding author), Katrin Hambarsoomian (RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, corresponding author), William G Lehrman (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD), Elizabeth Goldstein (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD), Laura A Giordano (Health Services Advisory Group, Phoenix, AZ), Julie Brown (0000-0001-6358-8022, RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume62
Issue9
Pages617-623
Publication date2024-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueMedical Care (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0025-7079 • E-ISSN: 1537-1948
PublisherOvid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1097/mlr.0000000000002041
PMID39120955
OpenAlexW4401454956
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited21

BACKGROUND: Low response rates (RRs) can affect hospitals' data collection costs for patient experience surveys and value-based purchasing eligibility. Most hospitals use single-mode approaches, even though sequential mixed mode (MM) yields higher RRs and perhaps better patient representativeness. Some hospitals may be reluctant to incur MM's potential additional cost and complexity without knowing how much RRs would increase. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the differences in RR and patient representation between MM and single-mode approaches and to identify hospital characteristics associated with the largest RR differences from MM of single-mode protocols (mail-only, phone-only). RESEARCH DESIGN: Patients were randomized within hospitals to one of 3 modes (mail-only, phone-only, MM). SUBJECTS: A total of 17,415 patients from the 51 nationally representative US hospitals participating in a randomized HCAHPS mode experiment. RESULTS: Mail-only RRs were lowest for ages 18-24 (7%) and highest for ages 65+ (31%-35%). Phone-only RRs were 24% for ages 18-24, increasing to 37%-40% by ages 55+. MM RRs were 28% for ages 18-24, increasing to 50%-60% by ages 65-84. Lower hospital-level mail-only RRs strongly predicted greater gains from MM. For example, a hospital with a 15% mail-only RR has a predicted MM RR >40% (with >25% occurring in telephone follow-up). CONCLUSION: MM increased representation of hard-to-reach (especially young adult) patients and hospital RRs in all mode experiment hospitals, especially in hospitals with low mail-only RRs

Actuarial science · Affect (linguistics) · Business · Data collection · Economics · Health care · Medical emergency · Mode (computer interface) · Purchasing · Relative value · Representativeness heuristic · Statistics · Value (mathematics) · Computer Science · Economic and Environmental Valuation · Marketing · Medicine · Patient Satisfaction in Healthcare · Psychology · Survey Methodology and Nonresponse

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