Under healthcare reform, hospitals are becoming financially accountable for quality of care. CMS' value-based purchasing program, for example, will provide payments based on multiple quality measures, including hospitals' scores on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System survey. Collecting and reporting accurate data will therefore be critical for hospitals to receive the correct payment.
While the validity of many data points relies only on hospitals collecting and reporting data correctly, some data, like responses to the HCAHPS survey, require a minimum number of responses for the data to be valid. For example, in CMS' Hospital Compare database, many hospitals where fewer than 100 or 50 patients completed the HCAHPS survey added a footnote, "Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess hospital performance."
Russ Richmond, MD, CEO of Objective Health, provides three tips for capturing a statistically relevant number of patient surveys.
1. Hold people accountable. The hospital needs to set a goal of completed surveys, and hold people accountable for reaching that goal. Some hospitals hire staff members specifically to advertise and administer surveys to patients, according to Dr. Richmond.
2. Make survey communication part of workflow. Hospitals can help boost the number of patients responding to surveys by building communication about the importance of surveys into clinicians' and staff members' workflows. Making survey communication part of employees' workflows ensures every eligible patient is at least aware of the survey.
3. Reach out to patients in flexible ways. There are several modes of conducting the HCAHPS survey, such as by phone or mail. By reaching out to patients via multiple channels, hospitals will have a greater chance that patients will respond to the survey.
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While the validity of many data points relies only on hospitals collecting and reporting data correctly, some data, like responses to the HCAHPS survey, require a minimum number of responses for the data to be valid. For example, in CMS' Hospital Compare database, many hospitals where fewer than 100 or 50 patients completed the HCAHPS survey added a footnote, "Use these scores with caution, as the number of surveys may be too low to reliably assess hospital performance."
Russ Richmond, MD, CEO of Objective Health, provides three tips for capturing a statistically relevant number of patient surveys.
1. Hold people accountable. The hospital needs to set a goal of completed surveys, and hold people accountable for reaching that goal. Some hospitals hire staff members specifically to advertise and administer surveys to patients, according to Dr. Richmond.
2. Make survey communication part of workflow. Hospitals can help boost the number of patients responding to surveys by building communication about the importance of surveys into clinicians' and staff members' workflows. Making survey communication part of employees' workflows ensures every eligible patient is at least aware of the survey.
3. Reach out to patients in flexible ways. There are several modes of conducting the HCAHPS survey, such as by phone or mail. By reaching out to patients via multiple channels, hospitals will have a greater chance that patients will respond to the survey.
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