Disclaimer: This content is educational and based on 20+ years of case management experience. It is not medical advice, clinical guidance, or legal counsel. Consult with qualified healthcare providers, case managers, and legal professionals for decisions affecting your care.
Insurers love asking how "satisfied" you are right after they vaguely explained medical necessity.
It's like asking if you enjoyed dinner while you're still choking on the fish bone.
In 2025, they're still bragging about their customer satisfaction scores.
Meanwhile, families are still getting the same old denial letters.
What's Really Happening?
- Only 16.2% of people respond to surveys (SurveySensum)
- Nearly half say they give better ratings just to avoid conflict (InMoment)
- 83.8% of experiences go completely unmeasured
But that doesn't stop companies from calling their surveys a success.
What I See from the Front Lines
As a nurse case manager working in catastrophic neuro rehab, I see the fallout more often than I should:
- Families show up with high hopes based on what a rep said
- I'm the one who has to break it to them. Coverage is limited, and "medical necessity" doesn't mean what they think
- And the rep? They get a 5-star survey for being polite
- I get 1 star for telling the truth.
Here's the Part That Makes Me Go Hmmm
A study in JAMA found that patients with the highest satisfaction scores had a 26% higher death rate and higher healthcare costs too.
Why? Because they were told what they wanted to hear, not what they needed to know.
And fast doesn't mean good.
A J.D. Power study showed a big satisfaction boost when claims were closed fast. But you can be happy about how quickly you were denied and still be denied.
So What Actually Matters?
According to SQM Group, the real metrics should be:
- Was your problem solved the first time you called?
- Did you get accurate info?
- Did your claim go through?
That's what we should be measuring. Not how friendly someone sounded when they told you no.
Here's Where I Land
"I'll help you navigate the system. I just can't fix the system."
At least not without rewriting what success actually means.
Your Turn
To my fellow healthcare workers: How do you deal with the survey nonsense?
And families, what's the wildest post-call survey you've ever gotten?
Drop it in the comments. I'm listening.
(And no, I won't ask you to rate this interaction.)
The opinions expressed are my own and do not reflect my employer's views. The citations? Painfully real. The research cited reflects real studies on survey effectiveness and customer satisfaction measurement limitations.