Frequently Asked Questions & Answers on HCAHPS
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Q: What is HCAHPS?
A: HCAHPS is a survey of 27 questions that asks patients – after they have left the hospital – how often different aspects of their care were provided. For example: “How often did nurses treat you with courtesy and respect?”
HCAHPS stands for “Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.”
Q: What’s so new about HCAHPS?
A: Many hospitals, like Backus, have conducted patient surveys for years as a way to find how well they are performing, and make continual improvements. But HCAHPS is different for two reasons:
1) It’s the first time the same exact questions are being used nationwide. This standardized survey allows an “apples-to-apples” comparison of results.
2) The survey is different from most in that it measures patients’ experiences, rather than satisfaction. Instead of asking how satisfied patients were with their care, it asks how often different aspects of care were provided — always, usually, sometimes and never.
Q: How can I find the information?
A: HCAHPS information will be available at the public Hospital Quality Alliance Web site, http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/.
Q: How should I use the Hospital Compare information?
A: Patient experience information provides one additional source for you to use when making decisions about your care. It is not the only source. You should always talk with you r doctor about the variety of factors that can have an impact about where you should go for care. If you are experiencing an emergency, go to your nearest hospital immediately.
Q: How were the HCAHPS questions selected?
A: Focus groups including patients from across the country helped develop the questions. The final list of 27 questions was selected because the information was the most widely requested and understandable by patients. These are the types of questions you may ask of your family and friends when you’re choosing a hospital.
Q: What categories of questions are there?
A: Patient responses are “bundled” and reported on the Hospital Compare website as 10 “composite” scores. The 10 areas are:
- Communication with nurses
- Communication with doctors
- Responsiveness of staff
- Pain management
- Communication about medication
- Cleanliness of hospital
- Quietness of hospital
- Discharge information
- Overall rating
- Willingness to recommend
Hospital Compare highlights whether a particular aspect of care was “always” provided — this is the answer that most strongly indicates patients’ overall satisfaction.
Q: Why is HCAHPS important?
A: Backus Hospital believes there are two reasons:
The HCAHPS questions are the same ones many people ask their family and friends when they have to choose a hospital.
Information about other patients’ experience of care is widely requested and understandable by patients.
Q: What other information is offered at the Hospital Compare website?
A: In addition to the new patient experience information, Hospital Compare has information about how often individual hospitals provided specific types of care most patients should always get for certain conditions, such as:
- Giving heart attack patients an aspirin upon arrival at a hospital
- Proper antibiotic selection and timing for surgery patients
- Mortality information for heart attack and heart failure patients who died within 30 days of being admitted to the hospital
Q: Who runs Hospital Compare?
A: Hospital Compare was developed by the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a national public-private partnership dedicated to encouraging hospitals to voluntarily collect and make public quality of care information.
The HQA regularly updates Hospital Compare with new information about hospital quality of care.
Q: How does Hospital Compare gets its data?
A: Hospitals have been voluntarily sharing information about clinical care with consumers since Hospital Compare was launched in 2005. By providing information about patient experience of care, hospitals are continuing their efforts to be even more transparent about the quality of care they provide.
Combining the insights from HCAHPS patient experience of care survey with the clinical care information already available will give consumers a broader look at hospital care.
- HCAHPS provides insight into a patient’s experience in a hospital –from the nursing care to the cleanliness of its rooms.
- These are questions you may ask of your family and friends when you’re choosing a hospital. Now, it’s available at your fingertips, giving an apples-to-apples comparison of hospitals in your community, your state – even nationwide.
Hospitals will be able to use HCAHPS information in their efforts to improve care. Improving care is an ongoing process in health care and what a patient experiences is an important part of that process.
- Studies show that hospitals are improving on the clinical steps that are already part of Hospital Compare.
- The new HCAHPS data provides a baseline of how hospitals are doing in handling patients’ routine needs.
Hospital Compare is an excellent source of information that can help consumers make decisions about their care; however, it may not be the only source. We encourage patients to talk with their physicians about the variety of factors that can have an impact on where a patient should go for care.