For the first time Australians will be able to access member experience information when making choices about which private hospital they would like to go to with the launch of Medibank’s Patient Experience tool.
Customers will be able to access easy to read information about patient experiences over a range of categories, including communication and engagement, care in hospital, hospital environment, going home, and how likely they would be to recommend this hospital to their family and friends, as well as providing an overall rating of their experience in that hospital out of 10.
Since 2016, Medibank has collected feedback from more than 30,000 customers that have had an overnight admission in hospital. Most major private hospital groups have so far agreed to have the information published.
Sharing patient experiences with hospitals has already led to good results, with one hospital adding more cleaning staff after hearing customers say they had some concerns about the cleanliness of their rooms.
Medibank Group Executive Healthcare & Strategy Dr Andrew Wilson says this is an example of the healthcare system working collaboratively to deliver transparency and a better patient experience.
“This has been about providing more transparency about going to hospital and giving our customers more choice and empowering them to make informed decisions about their healthcare,” said Dr Wilson.
“Publishing this information will showcase the positive experiences that our customers are having in private hospitals, and will help to reinforce the value delivered by the private healthcare industry.
“Consumers want more information before heading to hospital – and listening to their experiences we can work together to deliver a better quality of service,” said Dr Wilson.
Medibank worked with academics from The University of Melbourne to conduct an independent review of the data and the underlying methodology to ensure the way the data is presented accounts for any differences between hospitals and the patients they treat.
Customers will be able to see information about what people thought of their hospital experience - how staff interacted with them, how clearly they received advice about their medicine, the quietness and cleanliness of the hospital and information provided on discharge when going home - these measures reflect patient experience and not clinical outcomes.
Our research has shown that at least 95% of private hospitals are rated at least an 8 out of 10 by our customers, while 65% of public hospitals that treated Medibank customers as private patients, were rated at least an 8 out of 10 by Medibank customers.
