HCAHPS®  has created a new reality in healthcare – heightened consumerism. For the first time, the results of patient experience surveys are available to the public. We will have a very clear view of how hospitals are creating a patient-centered experience for their patients in their communities and everyone can benchmark performance using this public, national database.

Perhaps most importantly, HCAHPS fuels the conversation about the patient experience and what are acceptable caregiver behaviors.

Is any other score other than “Always” acceptable?

What do you tell a husband whose wife is now in the ED with complications because her doctor didn’t take the time to clearly communicate possible side effects of her new medication? Do you tell her that it’s acceptable in your hospital that doctors only rarely clarify medication side effects?

The two questions that will perhaps receive the most attention are “Overall rating of hospital” and “Would you recommend this hospital to friends and family?” NRC Picker’s patient-centered care dimensions are highly correlated to these questions.

What’s most interesting, as shown in the chart below, is that the top two correlating dimensions are not included in HCAHPS, which is why many NRC Picker clients choose to do our Picker Plus survey that includes HCAHPS and seamlessly integrates the remaining dimensions of patient-centered care.