What are HCAHPS Scores and How Are They Calculated?

HCAHPS scores (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems)

Beginning in 2002, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) collaborated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), a patient satisfaction survey.

The HCAHPS survey was created to assist government agencies in collecting and aggregating data on patient perspectives of care at various healthcare facilities across the country. HCAHPS scores are used to enable objective hospital comparisons across a variety of parameters, to inform healthcare consumers about the relative standard of care at each facility, and to incentivize hospitals and healthcare organisations to compete on patient involvement and satisfaction.

There are 27 questions in the HCAHPS survey, with six composite subjects, two individual items, and two global issues:

• Nurse Communication • Hospital Staff Responsiveness • Physician Communication • Pain Management • Medicine Communication • Discharge Information • Composite Topics

Hospitals gather HCAHPS data by randomly sampling discharged patients who meet the survey's criteria. The collected information is sent to the HCAHPS data warehouse, where it is cleansed and evaluated by CMS personnel before being made public on the Hospital Compare website.

How You Can Improve HCAHPS Scores

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) study encourages hospitals to prioritise patient experience and consumer participation as key aspects of healthcare delivery. To that aim, healthcare practitioners can enhance their HCAHPS scores by communicating with patients regularly and clearly, creating a good healthcare environment that encourages wellness and recovery, and displaying great service and commitment to the well-being of patients.

Five of the reported measures are directly linked to communication, hence communication and direct involvement with patients are the most important elements impacting HCAHPS scores. Before discharging patients, hospitals should ensure that nurses and doctors interact with them regularly and effectively, provide them with enough medication information, provide clear home recovery instructions, and verify that they comprehend their care..

Q-Reviews is a powerful clinical communication platform that improves patient engagement by facilitating discussions between patients and their caregivers via a messaging app that encourages information sharing, collaborative patient management, and enhanced patient involvement.

Hospitals and healthcare institutions can use Quality Reviews to engage patients and enhance their HCAHPS scores, proving their dedication to customer satisfaction.