Case management service quality and patient-centered care

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Management
• Patient Experience Research
• Service Quality Assessment

Background:

• Patient-centered care is a key healthcare objective.
• Current evaluations of hospital case management often exclude patient input.
• A gap exists in understanding patient expectations and perceptions of case management services.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess hospital case management quality and patient satisfaction using patient expectations and perceptions.
• To bridge the research gap by incorporating the patient voice in service quality evaluations.
• To identify key drivers of patient satisfaction with case management.

Main Methods:

• Investigated five dimensions of case management: reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and tangibles.
• Utilized SERVQUAL instrument for survey data collection from 67 inpatients.
• Employed principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, GAP analysis, and a predictive model for data analysis.

Main Results:

• Identified "tangibles" and "nontangibles" (reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy) as key components.
• Nontangible aspects positively and significantly influenced perceived quality and patient satisfaction.
• Significant gaps between patient expectations and perceptions were found for reliability and assurance.
• Gaps in assurance critically impacted overall quality and satisfaction; empathy gaps affected satisfaction but not overall quality.

Conclusions:

• Research on service quality at the case manager level is limited.
• This study is the first to evaluate case management quality and satisfaction from the patient's perspective.
• Patient perceptions are vital for improving hospital case management services.