Medicare to Include Patient Satisfaction in Reimbursements to Hospitals

The New York Times reports that Medicare will start to take into account patient satisfaction when reimbursing hospitals.  The new rule is mandated by the Affordable Care Act and is expected to create competition amongst hospitals to best satisfy patients.  Hospital administrators have expressed concerns that their reimbursements will be linked to factors that are out of their control and have little or nothing to do with the quality of patient care, such as single rooms and the type of food served at the facility.