Purpose: To assess changes in the subjective effects of organizational patient advocacy services in the three years following the introduction of the new fee schedule for these services in registered Japanese hospitals.
Methods: The results of two self-administered questionnaire surveys were compared: the Central Social Insurance Medical Council (CSIMC) survey administered to 1,500 hospitals in November and December 2012 and the Japan Council for Quality Health Care (JQ) survey administered to 3,434 hospitals in March and April 2015. The surveys questioned basic information about the hospitals, and both surveys included seven items related to the subjective effects of the patient advocacy services in the hospital. The proportions of “Very true” and “Quite true” responses to these items were compared.
Results: The valid response rates were 28.6% (429/1,500) for CSIMC and 42.2% (1,450/3,434) for JQ. There was a significant difference between the two surveys (p = 0.007) in the response to “Effective for preventing the recurrence of complaints from patients and their families,” with a higher level of agreement in the later survey.
Conclusion: The finding demonstrated an improvement in patient advocacy services in the three years since the start of new Japanese medical fee schedule. It suggested that one of the expected roles of patient advocacy services is being provided in Japanese hospitals.