HCAHPS Quality/Performance Measures

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has partnered with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), another agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, to develop HCAHPS—the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey. CMS is using the 27-question HCAHPS survey (a standardized survey instrument and data collection methodology) to help healthcare consumers make “apples to apples” comparisons of hospital care from the patient perspective. Results from this survey were published on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website on March 28, 2008, with data from more than 2,500 hospitals around the country now available as part of this first release. The data cover a nine-month period from October 2006 to June 2007, and will be updated quarterly by CMS.

Griffin's HCAHPS results appear below, along with the average scores from Connecticut hospitals and hospitals across the country for each of the 10 composite HCAHPS categories. The far right column represents the scores achieved by hospitals performing at the top 10% level nationwide (Roll your mouse over the text for explanations of the questions that were combined to create each of the composite categories.)

	Griffin	CT Avg	US Avg	Top 10%
Effective Nurse Communications	85%	74%	73%	81%
Effective Doctor Communications	87%	79%	79%	86%
Effective Communication about Medication	72%	57%	58%	66%
Responsiveness of Nursing Services	71%	58%	60%	72%
Discharge Information Provided	87%	80%	79%	86%
Effectiveness of Pain Management	77%	68%	67%	75%
Cleanliness of Room and Bathroom	81%	68%	68%	79%
Quiet at Night	60%	47%	54%	67%
Willingness to Recommend Hospital	84%	69%	67%	80%
Hospital Rating - Percent 9 or 10	75%	62%	63%	75%

Griffin adopted the HCAHPS patient experience survey instrument as its sole patient satisfaction survey in 2005, and its scores have continued to compare favorably to both Connecticut hospitals and other hospitals participating in the various state and national pilots of the HCAHPS survey tool. Griffin's historical and year-to-date (October 2007 - February 2008) HCAHPS scores appear below:

	YTD	FY07	FY06
Effective Nurse Communications	86.5%	87.6%	88.0%
Effective Doctor Communications	83.0%	87.3%	90.5%
Effective Communication about Medication	68.4%	73.4%	82.1%
Responsiveness of Nursing Services	66.5%	73.0%	77.4%
Discharge Information Provided	85.3%	83.8%	87.5%
Effectiveness of Pain Management	78.5%	81.6%	85.2%
Cleanliness of Room and Bathroom	85.2%	86.0%	87.6%
Quiet at Night	69.8%	68.5%	64.4%
Willingness to Recommend Hospital	82.3%	86.9%	85.7%
Hospital Rating - Percent 9 or 10	74.1%	77.1%	74.0%

 

The Importance of Patient Centered Care

A fundamental belief at Griffin is that to provide an exceptional patient experience every employee is considered a caregiver. The hospital also believes that a patient’s HCAHPS overall rating is based on the total hospital experience and includes the many unique aspects of the Planetree patient-centered care model.  This unique Planetree experience includes amenity services such as: volunteers baking muffins and cookies in residential kitchens on patient units; gentle had rubs provided to patients; live entertainment, including musicians and artists on nursing units; and the hospital’s therapy dog visitation program.

Griffin continues to dedicate its efforts at the department level and through interdisciplinary groups to create an exceptional patient experience. The hospital appreciates the feedback it receives from its patients and visitors, which it uses to further improve its care processes. If you would like to provide feedback on your Griffin Hospital experience please email us.