Evaluating the impact of a large-scale merger on patient satisfaction.

To determine the effect of a large-scale merger on patient satisfaction. Responses to secure patient satisfaction surveys at two large US fertility centers pre-merger (Clinics A and B) from January 1, 2014 to March 31, 2017 and post-merger (Clinic C) from April 1, 2018 to March 31, 2022 were included (merger finalized April 1, 2017). Surveys included a question related to overall satisfaction as well as an additional randomized set of questions regarding interactions with various clinic staff. Questions were scored from 1 (poor) to 5 (excellent) and compared between groups using the Student’s t-test. The primary outcome was overall satisfaction. A total of427, 6,273, and 8,181 surveys from Clinics A, B, and C, respectively, were included. Response rate was 99.9% for overall satisfaction and lower for supplemental questions (7.9-91.8%). Mean overall satisfaction was significantly lower in Clinic C compared to Clinic A (4.40 ± 0.88 vs. 4.62 ± 0.63, respectively; p<0.001), but significantly higher compared to Clinic B (4.40 ± 0.88 vs. 4.33 ± 0.85, respectively; p<0.001). As shown in Table 1, Clinic C had significantly lower satisfaction scores than both Clinics A and B for certain patient care metrics, and significantly higher satisfaction scores than either Clinic A or B for other patient care metrics. While the merger’s effect on patient satisfaction were mixed, most scores post-merger were in the “very good” range (4.00–4.99). Additionally, given the post-merger period includes the COVID pandemic and associated sequalae such as limited staffing and other resources, this adds uncertainty to the attribution of cause of the small but statistically significant changes.