Monday, May 08, 2006

Marketing Metrics meets Public Health

I listened to David Reibstein of the Wharton School* on this Knowledge@Wharton podcast (free registration required) last night while riding home, and it got me thinking about the Press-Ganey surveys we do in our health system. Do we inflate our satisfaction scores by only surveying people bold enough to stay with our practice? I know how to calculate MDRD-GFR. Why don't I know these common marketing metrics? Aren't they a better predictor of what I'm being paid for?

More importantly, how do the metrics like 'market share' relate to similar public health/epidemiology concepts? If patient satisfaction/practice satisfaction is associated with adherence, and adherence with health outcomes, then it would seem we're not paying enough attention to doing right by the patient. Anyone who's navigated my practice's 'automated voice attendant' probably knows what I'm talking about.

*disclaimer-I'm employed by Penn but don't know Dr. Reibstein and am not getting a cut of his book, but would be happy to : )

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