Choice. It’s today’s buzz word for health care consumers. Today’s health care consumer is confronted with many choices regarding physicians, pharmacies, labs and even hospitals. How do consumers make a decision with these complicated choices? The difficulty lies in what information is available to healthcare consumers to enable them to make an informed decision. Where do they turn to get unbiased factual information?

To help consumers make informed choices regarding hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) developed an instrument to measure patient perceptions of care. This measurement will be used publicly to report hospital performance (quality of care as perceived by patients). This survey is called the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems or HCAHPS. The goal of this public reporting instrument is to provide consumers with information that might be helpful in choosing a hospital. It is to be used as a complement to other quality improvement instruments already being used by hospitals.

The survey will be mailed to all hospital in-patients (with the exception of observation patients). The survey will be conducted by Press Ganey, a nationally recognized independent consulting company. The survey will ask patients after discharge to rate the following:
  • Communication with Doctors
  • Communication with Nurses
  • Responsiveness of Hospital Staff
  • Pain Control
  • Communication about Medicines
  • Cleanliness of the Physical Environment
  • Discharge Information
  • Overall Rating of the Hospital
  • Recommendation of the Hospital
Most hospitals, including Nason Hospital, have collected information over the years on patient satisfaction. However, in order to make “apples to apples” comparisons to support consumer choice, it was necessary to introduce a standard measurement approach. CMS believes that the HCAHPS survey will help accomplish this goal. (HCAHPS will utilize pertinent questions for inpatients over age 65.)

Nason Hospital is committed to providing quality services to our patients and to have our patients be satisfied with their care. This commitment is not something new at Nason Hospital. The Press Ganey Survey and HCAHPS initiative is simply a new method for Nason to measure patient satisfaction. Nason participated successfully in a “dry run” survey in April 2007. The “dry run” is a requirement prior to participation in the national CMS implementation. The first public reporting of HCAHPS results will occur in Spring 2008. Hospital results will be displayed on the Hospital Compare website, which can be found at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov, or through a link on http://www.medicare.gov. Nason Hospital will provide a link to the Hospital Compare website.

Nason Hospital is committed to providing you and your family with the highest quality patient care available. We look forward to hearing your opinions. The HCAHPS results will simply be one more tool that we will use to continue to provide the type of care consumers have come to expect from us. Nason Hospital wants to be your healthcare provider of choice both now and in the future. If you have any specific questions regarding Press Ganey or HCAHPS, please email me directly at ghoover@nasonhospital.com.


Sincerely,
Garrett W. Hoover, MA, MHA, FACHE
President & CEO