Measurement Under the Microscope: High Variability and Limited Construct Validity in Emergency Department Patient-Experience Scores

In this sample, both physician- and facility-level patient-experience data varied greatly month to month, with physician variability being considerably higher. Facility-level scores have greater construct validity than physician-level ones. Optimizing data gathering may reduce variability in ED patient-experience data and better inform decisionmaking, quality measurement, and pay for performance.