Background: Large academic medical centers are increasingly partnering with or acquiring community hospitals to expand capacity, improve resource allocation and hospital throughput, and enhance patient care. Although studies have assessed clinical outcomes in community settings, data exploring patient experiences at academically affiliated community hospitals remains limited. Our study aims to characterize patient experiences at a recently acquired, academically affiliated community hospital and to identify key domains of satisfaction and opportunities for improvement, including perceptions of and comparisons with the affiliated academic medical center.
Methods: We conducted a qualitative study using one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with hospitalized patients in September 2025. Purposeful sampling was incorporated to ensure inclusion of a broad range of patient demographics, including a subset of patients who had been transferred from the emergency department at a nearby quaternary care academic medical center after being deemed clinically appropriate for interhospital transfer. All interviews were conducted by a single interviewer on hospital day three or four using a predetermined set of questions, progressing from broad to more focused questions related to clinical care, communication, trust, hospital comparisons, and transfer processes (if applicable). Virtual interpreter services were used for patients with limited English proficiency. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and reviewed for accuracy. Using thematic analysis, transcripts were iteratively coded to identify key topics and overarching themes. To enhance coding reliability, a subset of transcripts and associated codes were double reviewed by another investigator, with consensus reached through discussion.
Results: Twenty hospitalized patients participated, including five who were formally transferred from the affiliated academic medical center. Participants ranged in age from 36 to 96 years and were diverse in race/ethnicity, primary language (six languages represented), and admitting diagnosis. Analysis revealed the following themes (Table 1): (1) staff professionalism and trust in care team; (2) an efficient and straightforward interhospital transfer process for transferred patients; (3) the perception that care quality was largely comparable to that of an academic medical center; and (4) a preference for the academic setting when care needs become more complex or subspecialized. We also identified several opportunities for improvement (Table 2), centered on responsiveness to patient needs, the physical environment, and language accessibility.
Conclusions: Patient experience at an academically affiliated community hospital was largely positive, highlighting the value of academic-community partnerships in delivering high-quality and patient-centered care. However, persisting perceptions of greater expertise and resources in academic settings underscore the need for clear communication about shared standards, coordinated care, and complementary roles of each hospital within the partnership.
