Hospitals and wireless phone service providers showed significant improvements in customer perceptions of quality during the first quarter of 2006 compared to the first quarter of 2005, while energy utilities and airline industries received low overall quality marks, according to the Quarterly Quality Report released today by the American Society for Quality. The report is based on data from the American Customer Satisfaction Index produced by the University of Michigan.
Hospitals increased their perceived quality score by nearly four percentage points--from 78 to 81 on the ACSI’s 100-point scale--this quarter compared with the first quarter of 2005. The jump in consumers’ perception of quality was among the highest for all industries measured during the quarter. The report credits hospitals as having the highest commitment to and actual measurement of performance management among industries studied. And consumers have become aware that hospitals are measuring and making transparent meaningful outcomes from CMS’s Hospital Compare website and from increasing numbers of pay-for-performance plans. In contrast, utilities’ reputation has been tarnished by rising fuel costs and disruptions in energy supplies as a result of last season’s record number of hurricanes, and airline bankruptcies have resulted in airlines cutting passenger amenities, flying smaller jets, booking more passengers per flight, and reducing flights on many routes.
