Ambulatory patient satisfaction: a systematic approach to collecting and reporting information.

The importance of outpatient services to most hospitals continues to escalate. The number of ambulatory outpatients is much larger than the number of inpatients, and revenues from outpatient services are predicted to equal or exceed inpatient revenues in the near future. The ability to provide outpatient services with exceptional quality is paramount to long-term survival of hospitals. This article describes a methodology for systematically collecting and reporting patient satisfaction information from a wide array of hospital ambulatory care services. By systematically measuring satisfaction, hospitals can determine the outpatient areas and service dimensions in need of performance improvement.