Press Ganey recently released The 2009 Hospital Pulse Report: Patient Perspectives on American Health Care. The study reveals a six-year trend in increasing inpatient satisfaction. The findings are based on surveys from nearly 3 million patients treated at more than 2,000 hospitals nationwide in 2008.
Highlights:
- Press Ganey calls “Response to concerns/complaints” the “Number 1 priority” for our nation’s hospitals.
- Highest correlated item between HCAHPS “Likelihood to recommend” was “staff worked together to care for you.”
- In April 2008, CMS began requiring all hospitals to publicly report HCAHPS data. Only seven months later (October), Press Ganey data showed inpatient satisfaction scores climbed more significantly than at any other point in the 24 year history of Press Ganey (see chart on page 2 of report). The study reports (p. 14), “In October 2008 alone, Press Ganey found a 1.53 percent jump in the overall rating of a hospital and a 1.96 percent increase in the likelihood to recommend a hospital to family and friends, both unprecedented increases in the more than two decades that such data has been collected. Typically, satisfaction follows seasonal ups and downs, with a modest upward trend being found in the past decade.”
What gets measured (and reported)…improves! Thoughts?
