Garth Koyle

Bellevue Hospital in New York received a 73.5 (C) in the recent HCAHPS patient satisfaction survey. New York State, on average received a 80.2 (B-)

According to the latest HCAHPS patient satisfaction survey results, most states do not meet the top grade in hospital care.

Every year patients of American hospitals are given the opportunity to rate the care they receive by participating in the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey (HCAHPS®).

According to the HCAHPS survey Web site: “The HCAHPS survey contains 18 patient perspectives on care and patient rating items that encompass eight key topics: communication with doctors, communication with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, cleanliness of the hospital environment, and quietness of the hospital environment.”

Ranking each state based on the results to the following questions we can compare, on average, what grade of care each state provides:

• How often did doctors communicate well with patients?
• How often did nurses communicate well with patients?
• How often did patients receive help quickly from hospital staff?
• How often did staff explain about medicines before giving them to patients?
• How often was patients’ pain well controlled?
• How often was the area around patients’ rooms kept quiet at night?
• How often were the patients’ rooms and bathrooms kept clean?
• Were patients given information about what to do during their recovery at home?
• Would patients recommend the hospital to friends and family?
• How do patients rate the hospital overall?

The United States hospital average came in at a disappointing 80.2 (B-). Below are the patient satisfaction scores and grades for each state.

States receiving an “A” grade:

• None. As you’ll see below, no state graded above a “B”.

States Receiving an “A-”grade:

• None.

States Receiving a “B+”grade:

• None.

States Receiving a “B” grade:

• South Dakota : 84.1
• Wisconsin : 83.5

States Receiving a “B-” grade:

• Iowa : 83.3
• Louisiana : 83.2
• Maine : 83.2
• Vermont : 83.1
• Nebraska : 83.1
• New Hampshire : 82.6
• Alabama : 82.5
• Minnesota : 82.5
• Oklahoma : 82.5
• Kansas : 82.5
• Idaho : 82.3
• North Carolina : 82
• Indiana : 81.6
• North Dakota : 81.4
• Colorado : 81.3
• Utah : 81.3
• South Carolina : 81.2
• Texas : 81.1
• Wyoming : 81.1
• Mississippi : 81
• Kentucky : 80.9
• Alaska : 80.7
• Massachusetts : 80.6
• Arkansas : 80.6
• Oregon : 80.5
• Tennessee : 80.5
• Michigan : 80.5
• Missouri : 80.4
• Montana : 80.1
• Ohio : 80.1
• Washington : 80
• Rhode Island : 79.9
• West Virginia : 79.7

States Receiving a “C+” grade:

• Georgia : 79.3
• New Mexico : 79.2
• Virginia : 79.1
• Pennsylvania : 79.1
• Connecticut : 79.1
• Illinois : 78.6
• Arizona : 78.6
• Delaware : 77.6
• Maryland : 77
• Hawaii : 76.8
• New Jersey : 76.5

States Receiving a “C” grade:

• California : 76.4
• New York : 76.2
• Florida : 75.4
• Nevada : 74.6

States Receiving a “C-” grade:

• Dist. of Columbia : 73.4

On average, patients give American hospitals a B- grade to the patient satisfaction questions.

The implications for healthcare providers, administrators, and health plans (payers) are that patients are only satisfied. There is room for improvement in how patients interact with or are treated by care providers. As full service hospitals see margins getting thinner, it will be increasingly important for hospitals to not only retain patients, but create fans that will advocate services to their personal network.

For Patients: What has been your experience with the hospitals in your state and does it match up with this data?

Danielle Ofri, MD, PhD shares her experience taking her son to the ER at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital where she works. OFri had a better experience at Bellevue than the average patient would have at the average New York hospital. New York’s state average HCAHPS score was 76.2 (C), but Bellevue Hospital earned a 73.5 (C) in the most recent HCAHPS  patient satisfaction survey.

For Providers: What efforts are you making to improve patient satisfaction?

Ofri’s anecdote reminds us of how patients can be critics or advocates. Ofri’s experience has been published as full stories on multiple Web sites and shared by hundreds (if not thousands) of people via social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook – modern-day word of mouth.

How good (or bad) are the experiences of the patients where you work? How actively do you (or your organization) pay attention to patient satisfaction scores, and what initiatives do you have to improve? Any insights into why your state scores so low or why South Dakota is at the top and Washington D.C. is at the bottom?