Myth: High patient satisfaction means high-quality care.

Following your last hospital visit, you may have been asked to fill out a survey about your satisfaction. Patient satisfaction surveys have become a familiar fixture in healthcare delivery, providing an avenue for patients to shape the delivery of healthcare.1 They tend to be low-cost and easy to implement— likely a reason for their widespread use2 —and the rationale behind them is sound and simple: providers can adjust how they deliver care based on the post hoc feedback they receive.