Hospital Executives Survey

U.S. News and Fidelity Investments surveyed executives at 1,852 hospitals

By U.S. News Staff

July 18, 2011 RSS Feed Print

How concerned are you about the increased federal scrutiny of Medicare payments through more intensive auditing?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	33.3
2	37.3
3	16.7
4	11.4
5 — Not at all concerned	1.2
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How concerned are you about the impact on your hospital's operations and budget of increased regulatory mandates and oversight?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	59.1
2	31.7
3	7.1
4	1.5
5 — Not at all concerned	0.6
Total	100

How concerned are you about the difficulty of reducing readmissions significantly?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	16.0
2	42.5
3	29.5
4	10.2
5 — Not at all concerned	1.5
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How likely is it that over the next three years, your hospital will become part of an Accountable Care Organization?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	33.2
2	33.2
3	22.8
4	6.8
5 — Not at all likely	3.7
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How likely is it that over time ACOs will significantly improve the quality and efficient delivery of health care?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	6.8
2	26.8
3	36.9
4	19.7
5 — Not at all likely	9.5
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How concerned are you about the cost of making a full transition to electronic medical records, if you have not already done so?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	24.0
2	31.7
3	13.2
4	8.9
5 — Not at all concerned	3.1
6 — We made transition	19.1
Total	100

How concerned are you about the process of fully integrating EMRs into your hospital's operations and culture, including retention and training of staff and physicians?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	22.2
2	31.7
3	13.5
4	11.1
5 — Not at all concerned	5.2
6 — We made transition	16.3
Total	100

How concerned are you about your hospital's ability to continue to provide care to patients without health insurance during the next three years?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	42.2
2	36.0
3	13.8
4	6.2
5 — Not at all concerned	1.8
Total	100

What is the priority, over the next three years, of adding staff and funding for initiatives that improve the quality of care at your hospital, such as stressing the use of accepted clinical guidelines and best practices?
Response	Percent
1 — High priority	37.5
2	43.7
3	12.6
4	4.6
5 — Low priority	1.2
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

What is the priority, over the next three years, of adding staff and funding for initiatives that enhance patient safety at your hospital, such as enhanced handwashing and improving PSI tracking and reporting?
Response	Percent
1 — High priority	31.7
2	42.5
3	17.8
4	5.8
5 — Low priority	1.5
Total	99.4
No response	0.6

Is your compensation (salary and/or bonus) tied to accepted benchmarks or stated goals for quality of care and/or patient safety?
Response	Percent
Yes	88.0
No	11.4
Total	99.4
No response	0.6

How likely is it that over the next five years your hospital or hospital system will absorb or be absorbed by another hospital or health system?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	16.3
2	19.1
3	17.8
4	17.5
5 — Extremely unlikely	29.2
Total	100

What is the priority, over the next three years, of increasing the percentage of your hospital's budget devoted to marketing your hospital to physicians and patients to generate more referrals?
Response	Percent
1 — High priority	6.8
2	25.8
3	36.3
4	21.5
5 — Low priority	9.5
Total	100

What is the priority, over the next three years, of trying to increase consumer appeal through such steps as addressing patient satisfaction scores in HCAHPS surveys, building a hotel-style lobby and making patient rooms more attractive?
Response	Percent
1 — High priority	38.2
2	38.8
3	15.1
4	5.5
5 — Low priority	1.8
Total	99.4
No response	0.6

How concerned are you about your hospital's level of bad debt?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	30.5
2	34.2
3	21.2
4	10.8
5 — Not at all concerned	2.2
6 — N/A, no bad debt	0.9
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How concerned are you about aligning your hospital's operating costs with post-reform reimbursement in the next three years?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	64.0
2	26.8
3	6.8
4	2.2
5 — Not at all concerned	0.3
Total	100.0

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will remove health insurance for your employees?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	0.3
2	1.8
3	5.5
4	9.2
5 — Extremely unlikely	83.1
Total	100.0

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will be moving to an HSA-only health option?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	1.2
2	3.4
3	17.5
4	25.2
5 — Extremely unlikely	48.6
6 — We do this now	3.1
Total	99.1
No response	0.9

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will increase incentives for vendors, physicians and employees to promote wellness?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	20.3
2	32.9
3	29.8
4	8.6
5 — Extremely unlikely	3.7
6 — We do this now	4.3
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will freeze or terminate existing pension plans?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	7.4
2	10.2
3	15.7
4	14.8
5 — Extremely unlikely	32.3
6 — We do this now	14.5
Total	94.8
No response	5.2

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will become an automatically enrolling retirement plan?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	4.3
2	8.6
3	26.8
4	18.2
5 — Extremely unlikely	12.9
6 — We do this now	22.5
Total	93.2
No response	6.8

What is the likelihood, in the next three years, that your benefit program will establish or raise the employer contribution to a retirement plan?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely likely	4.9
2	12.0
3	19.1
4	23.1
5 — Extremely unlikely	30.2
6 — We do this now	10.5
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How much do you think your hospital will increase or decrease the number of physicians (staff or admitting) over the next three years?
Response	Percent
1 — Significantly increase	24.6
2	60.3
3 — No change	12.0
4	2.5
5 — Significantly decrease	0.6
Total	100.0

How difficult will it be to retain or attract adequate numbers of primary care physicians (staff and admitting)?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely difficult	32.6
2	39.4
3	20.3
4	4.9
5 — Not at all difficult	2.5
Total	99.7
No response	0.3

How difficult will it be to retain or attract adequate numbers of physician specialists (staff and admitting)?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely difficult	20.6
2	44.9
3	20.9
4	9.8
5 — Not at all difficult	3.1
Total	99.4
No response	0.6

How difficult will it be to retain or attract adequate numbers of clinical nurses, including supervisory?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely difficult	12.3
2	34.5
3	33.5
4	13.8
5 — Not at all difficult	5.8
Total	100.0

How difficult will it be to retain or attract adequate numbers of physician extenders (nurses, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, etc.)?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely difficult	11.7
2	36.3
3	34.5
4	14.2
5 — Not at all difficult	3.4
Total	100.0

How concerned are you about staff preparedness for a major news crisis involving your hospital, such as a patient's death due to preventable error, misconduct by high-ranking personnel or board members, or patient dumping?
Response	Percent
1 — Extremely concerned	5.8
2	22.5
3	35.4
4	30.5
5 — Not at all concerned	5.8
Total	100.0

Add Your Thoughts Comment Name State Email

Please enter the two words below into the text field underneath the image.

Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.