Recommending Surgery Increases Patient Satisfaction With Their Arthroplasty Surgeon

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Health services research

Background:

• Shared decision-making is recommended for hip and knee osteoarthritis.
• The impact of treatment decisions on patient satisfaction is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate if patient satisfaction scores differ based on whether patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis undergo arthroplasty.
• To determine if patient satisfaction is a reliable indicator of care quality.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Press Ganey satisfaction surveys from 1,133 patients at an academic arthroplasty clinic (2010-2018).
• Comparison of satisfaction ratings between patients who underwent total joint arthroplasty (559) and those who did not (574).
• Statistical analysis included Chi-square, logistic regression, and t-tests.

Main Results:

• Patients undergoing arthroplasty were more likely to give 5-star ratings (75% vs. 70%) and higher likelihood-to-recommend ratings.
• Providers received higher mean star ratings from patients who had surgery (4.66 vs. 4.57).
• Higher rates of surgery correlated with higher provider mean star ratings.

Conclusions:

• Patient satisfaction scores in arthroplasty may be influenced by the decision to have surgery.
• Providers not recommending surgery may receive lower satisfaction scores, impacting quality assessment.
• Patient satisfaction may not be a valid proxy for quality of care or a reliable metric for reimbursement.