[The reputation of Spanish hospitals. Basis for developing a reputation index of hospitals]

The reputation of the health centers is associated with: greater user preference in obtaining their services, better clinical outcomes and higher care quality and potential for attracting talented professionals. Reputation was evaluated using indexes and scales. The aim of this study is to analyze the attributes that should be gathered in a reputation index for Spanish hospitals.

Study based on qualitative techniques of consensus (nominal group technique + Delphi technique).

Four dimensions were identified that form the reputation index: care quality, ethical behavior, credibility/confidence and biomedical innovation and research, which in turn are subdivided into 12 components in total.

In building a reputation index consideration must be given to the combination of objective data (e.g. quality and safety outcomes) with other data that are subjective in nature (e.g., patient satisfaction). Future studies should go online to validate the reference standards in building a reputation index for hospitals.