Information Communication Technology (ICT) company Ascom just released a new industry report on hospital performance through the lens of HCAHPS patient satisfaction scores.
Ascom says hospitals that participate in the Value-Based Purchasing program are working hard to capture their share of the $1.9B incentive available in FY2019 – and to avoid performance penalties. Twenty-five percent of the Total Performance Score drives these payments and penalties, making HCAHPS star ratings more important than ever to the bottom line.
Top highlights of the report include:
• The majority of patients are satisfied with their hospital experiences. 72 percent of HCAHPS respondents would “definitely” recommend their hospital to others, and on a scale of 0-10, 73 percent rated their satisfaction with their hospital experience a nine or ten.
• Because overall patient satisfaction is high, so are the thresholds required to earn stars. For most HCAHPS metrics, patient satisfaction equivalent to 85 percent or more is required to achieve just a mid-level (3 out of 5) star rating. Star Ratings are slow to change: In a year-over-year comparison of star ratings across all hospitals, 61 percent remained unchanged.
• Consistency is key to improvement. Improving patient satisfaction is less about eliminating bad experiences than it is about consistently delivering great ones across all HCAHPS domains.
• Clinical communications drive consistency. It takes interoperable communications technology that seamlessly, consistently and accurately delivers timely information across the patient journey.
