Clarifire Conversations

Rounding has proven to be an effective practice in determining the level of patient satisfaction and improving the overall patient experience.  Many organizations will purchase a rounding solution to support and analyze rounding activities. Did your organization make the investment, but you haven’t seen an increase in HCAHPS scores?  Were you able to sustain the scores from previous years?  If you answered no to those questions, does that mean you bought the wrong solution?

HCAHPS – who knew that six letters could have such an impact on an organization? Low HCAHPS scores can result in a  loss of revenue, an unfavorable reputation in the community, public reporting of unsatisfactory scores, and potential downsizing of programs and/or employees.  Are your patient satisfaction scores lower than you expected?  It’s time to take a look at the consistency of your nurse leader rounding.

Post-discharge calls aid in safe patient transitions, help prevent readmissions, and improve patient satisfaction.¹  In addition, academic studies show that there is a positive correlation between post-discharge calls and HCAHPS scores.² Furthermore, a study from the Beryl Institute shows that advanced analytics can provide robust information allowing hospital systems to take actionable steps for operational improvements, resulting in improved patient outcomes.³ Based on these findings, we know that post-discharge follow-ups are a key part of not just the patient experience model, but the entire continuum of care.

One size does not fit all.  Ensuring a positive experience for children and their parents/guardians is essential for strategically building patient trust.  Today, building that trust is also financially imperative. How do parents and guardians view their child’s care?

Is your team afraid to log not met domains and coaching notes? Do they often communicate that they don’t want to ‘tattle’? OR, are they completely silent during team meetings? It’s an uncomfortable discussion, but top box HCAHPS are dependent on seeing and understanding the full picture of your patient’s experience.

One of the many areas of healthcare technology that has seen rapid growth is digital rounding solutions. Many organizations are making the transition away from traditional pen and paper rounding to electronic and often mobile data collection systems. Real time alerts, efficient data collection, positive patient perception of care, and simplified reporting are just a few of the benefits that make digital rounding attractive.

Professionals in the healthcare field know a better patient experience directly translates to increased patient satisfaction scores and positive impact to hospital reimbursements.

Parents want what's best for their children. They often use reviews and evaluations as a way to determine the value of a product or service. This information is useful to understand and make decisions on what is best for their child. We look at safety ratings to determine the highly rated car seat to keep our babies safe as they travel in our cars. We review school ratings to determine the best place for them to get an education.

Healthcare professionals understand how important it is that their patients have a good experience and are treated well during their stay, on top of the expectation of quality clinical care. Now more than ever, emphasis on the experience is critical as HCAHPS scores are directly linked to reimbursement initiatives through the Center of Medicaid and Medicare Services. 

This past May marked the 12-year anniversary of the NQF membership’s endorsement of the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey as a measure of adult patient satisfaction administered by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

HCAHPS isn’t a term that is new to the healthcare industry.  Hospitals have been collecting and reporting HCAHPS data for almost a decade now.  They have been able to analyze the data, implement quality improvement initiatives, and see the results with increased HCAHPS scores and Medicare reimbursements.