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Hospitals increasing focus on patient satisfaction, but many questions remain

Patient Access Weekly Advisor, May 20, 2009

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Patient satisfaction and patient experience are hot right now. Part of reason is the government's focus on patients' own perceptions of the care they receive, measured through HCAHPS. The public and press have easy access to the results. And because they're standardized, it's easy to see who's doing well—and who's not.

And no one wants to be in the latter category.

Still, a lot of questions remain about how best to measure, manage, and define patient satisfaction.

For starters, healthcare organizations are still trying to figure out how best to measure patient satisfaction. Should you pay attention to HCAHPS data exclusively? Do your own surveys and focus groups? Or hire a vendor to gather and compile additional data for you? Some combination of the above?

Novant Health in Winston-Salem, NC, conducted a year-long experiment in which it focused exclusively on HCAHPS to measure patient satisfaction, Sean Keyser, vice president of organizational improvement said at the recent PRC client education conference in New Orleans. The conclusion: HCAHPS alone wasn't enough to measure all of the different ways that hospitals can impact the patient experience.

Read the full story by HealthLeaders Media’s Gienna Shaw.



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