Standardizing satisfaction survey keeps hospitals honest

Let’s be honest.

We usually do better when someone is looking over our shoulders.

Maybe that’s what accounts for the improvement in patient satisfaction scores from surveys that U.S. hospitals are now required to make public.

An Indiana consulting company just released the results of the second group of surveys taken at 1,158 hospitals between January 2007 and June 2008. The company found that the patients this time around gave hospitals more nines and 10s on a 10-point scale than in the last batch of surveys. More of the patients also said that said they would "definitely recommend" their facility.

The first public report on the surveys was in October 2006.

Most hospitals have had satisfaction surveys for some years, but each had its own and the results were proprietary. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) decided that consumers really couldn’t compare hospitals when the surveys lacked standardization. To remedy that, CMS and another agency under the Department of Health and Human Services developed a standard survey and mandated that hospitals make the results public. Going public, the agency reasons, enhances public accountability and provides incentives for improving quality of care.

The full name of the survey is the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey or HCAHPS. It is composed of 27 questions. Two-thirds of them ask about communication with doctors and nurses; responsiveness of the staff; cleanliness and quietness; pain management; communication about medicines and discharge information; and overall rating of the hospital. The remaining questions are administrative.

Many hospital workers and services go into making patients as comfortable and secure as possible during a stressful time. Nurses play a huge role in accomplishing these goals, and it’s the care at the bedside by which patients are most likely to judge the facility.

How do you feel about mandatory public hospital surveys?

Do they put an extra burden on nursing staff?

Do you think surveys are a good tool of accountability?

How does the staff at your hospital learn about the results?

Tell us what you think.