Forget about the dry turkey and Jell-O, hospitals will make you Philly cheesesteaks and banana-nut pancakes thanks to the Obama administration healthcare reform.
"It's been a game-changer for us," Angelo Mojica, director of food and nutrition services at University of North Carolina, told USA Today.
Rex Hospital, part of the University of North Carolina Health System, is one of an increasing number of hospitals that are adopting hotel-style "room service" where patients can order food anytime from a large menu. There are some hospitals that are also setting up gardens to grow their own vegetables.
According to USA Today, administrators said food has become more important since Medicare last year began paying them based partly on their patient-satisfaction scores due to the new federal health care law.
"Food service helps the overall experience," said Jim McGrody, director of food and nutrition at Rex.
Rex administrators believe improvements on the quality of food have helped raise their overall satisfaction rates. USA Today reported that 84 percent of Rex Hospital patients surveyed said they would recommend the hospital, compared to the national average of 74 percent.
"I have no doubt that raising the culinary bar improves our customer-satisfaction scores," Chad Lefteris, vice president of operations at Rex, told USA Today.
Food-management companies that specialize in health care facilities reportedly have seen an increase of hospitals contacting them to help boost their satisfaction scores on the Medicare survey.
"Health care reform is pushing a lot of these changes," said Richard Schenkel, CEO of Unidine, a Boston-based company that manages food service at 20 hospitals. "There is a belief that when you have horrible food, it affects your patient-satisfaction scores."
Food costs fell by $400,000 in the first year of Rex Hospital's "Restaurant Delivery" system, according to USA Today. The new style of serving patients has also helped the hospital save money by avoiding food waste.
