Providence Health & Services

Providence Health & Services reports patient satisfaction scores as they are recorded and tabulated by HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) for our hospitals, by CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) for our health plans and by independent health-care analysts Press Ganey for our clinics. HCAHPS results are reported on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Hospital Compare Web site. Find out more about HCAHPS, CAHPS, Hospital Compare and Press Ganey in this FAQ.

 

 

HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. HCAHPS (pronounced “H-caps”) was created to publicly report the patient’s perspective of hospital care. Patients who have had an overnight stay in the hospital are randomly chosen to complete a survey that rates their hospital experiences in various areas. The areas have been chosen by the federal government as being key indicators that the hospital has provided a positive experience for its patients. The data is then adjusted to account for a number of variables, including the type of service received, patient age, education level, health status and language.

The HCAHPS results posted on the Hospital Compare Web site allow consumers to make fair and objective comparisons between hospitals — and of individual hospitals to state and national benchmarks — on 10 important measures of patients' perspectives of care.

HCAHPS was developed by a partnership of public and private organizations. Development of the survey was funded by the federal government, specifically the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Find out more on the HCAHPS Web site.

 

 

The HCAHPS survey asks patients to give feedback about topics for which they are the best source of information. The survey asks patients to answer questions about their experiences in the hospital. To make sure the HCAHPS survey data is meaningful, patients only answer questions about topics with which they have experience. View the HCAHPS survey questions in PDF format.

 

 

Through its Web site, Hospital Compare provides information on how well hospitals care for patients with certain medical conditions or surgical procedures. It also displays HCAHPS patient survey results concerning the quality of care they received during a recent hospital stay. With this information, reported quarterly, you can compare the quality of care that hospitals provide.

Hospital Compare was created by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Department of Health and Human Services, and other members of the Hospital Quality Alliance: Improving Care Through Information (HQA). Providence Health & Services participates in this program. Find out more at the Hospital Compare Web site.

 

 

CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems; formerly the Consumer Assessment of Health Plan Satisfaction) is a public-private initiative that develops standardized surveys of health plan members' experience with their physicians and their health plans. These surveys include topics such as timeliness and accuracy of claims payment, the performance of customer service representatives, the communication skills of providers and the accessibility of services. Results help health plans, health care organizations, public and private purchasers, consumers and researchers access the performance of various health plans and improve quality of care.

The CAHPS program is funded and administered by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which works closely with a consortium of public and private organizations. Over the past 10 years, the CAHPS Consortium has established a set of principles to guide the development of CAHPS surveys and related tools. These principles include identifying and supporting the consumer’s or patient’s information needs, conducting thorough scientific testing, ensuring comparability of data, maintaining an open development process and keeping products in the public domain. Find out more on the CAHPS Web site.

CAHPS surveys address a range of health care services under the categories of ambulatory care and facility. Ambulatory care surveys ask enrollees about their experience with ambulatory care delivered by health plans, medical groups, individual clinician and mental health providers. Facility surveys ask individuals about their experience with care services delivered in institutions such as hospitals, dialysis centers and nursing homes.

You can view actual questions and download a CAHPS pocket reference guide PDF on the CAHPS Web site.

Press Ganey is the health care industry’s leading independent vendor of patient satisfaction measurement and improvement services. It partners with more than 7,000 health care organizations and their clinics across the country.

Press Ganey uses patient discharge information to select a sample of recipients who receive mailed satisfaction surveys in either English or Spanish. Surveys are sent to millions of patients, employees and physicians every year to produce comprehensive data on patient satisfaction in health care organizations and clinics. The majority of surveys use a five-point scale of responses ranging from "very poor" to "very good." The survey asks questions about:

Surveys are returned directly to Press Ganey in a postage-paid envelope. Press Ganey enters the information into its database and determines an average score by combining all the responses. The results represent the average experience for patients who have visited a Providence medical clinic and physician. However, your experience with a particular doctor or clinic may differ from the experiences reported here.

Each quarter Providence medical clinics receive a report comparing that clinic’s scores to other clinics and medical groups throughout the United States. These scores range from 20 points to 100 points. For example, a rating of “very poor” equals a score of 20 points, “poor” equals 40 points, “fair” equals 60 points, “good” equals 80 points and “very good” equals 100 points. A clinic’s or medical group’s score is figured by averaging the score for each question from all those who responded to the survey. This information is used to target areas for improvement. In addition, each clinic receives copies of any hand-written comments provided by patients as another way to identify improvement opportunities.

Find out more at the Press Ganey Web site.

 

 

Rather than displaying the scores to every question asked in the surveys, Providence Health & Services has decided to display a few selected scores on its Web site, so it is less confusing and easier to compare and assess patient satisfaction with our care and service. We chose scores that we believe are the most meaningful to our audience and give a broad picture of our overall performance as it relates to customer satisfaction. This also makes it easier to see how Providence ranks in relation to state and national scores. HCAHPS scores and some regional CAHPS scores can be viewed on the Hospital Compare Web site. Press Ganey does not currently offer their scores to the public.

 

 

No. These publicly reported scores are not a reflection of a measure of clinical or medical quality. They reflect how respondent patients and members considered the care that they received and how well they felt about their treatment. Such scores and feedback allow Providence Health & Services to gauge the level of customer satisfaction in its different divisions and facilities, and it allows you to see, without interference or filter, what others think about us.