{"id":34107,"date":"2017-07-31T14:46:35","date_gmt":"2017-07-31T14:46:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medpro.sitepreview.app\/improve-hcahps-scores\/"},"modified":"2025-08-21T10:14:46","modified_gmt":"2025-08-21T15:14:46","slug":"improve-hcahps-scores","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.medprodisposal.com\/improve-hcahps-scores\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Improve HCAHPS Scores"},"content":{"rendered":"

The list below gives 15 ways to improve HCAHPS scores. It addresses performance to the HCAHPS questions.<\/span><\/p>\n

The survey itself measures patient satisfaction. Low scores hurt a hospital or nursing home in two ways. First, by damaging the facility’s reputation, since scores and star ratings for hospitals can be compared by patients online when deciding on a care location.<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, low HCAHPS scores can decrease a hospital’s Medicare\/Medicaid reimbursement through CMS by as much as 2% for 2017.<\/span><\/p>\n

What is HCAHPS?<\/span><\/h2>\n

HCAHPS<\/b> (or the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is basically a <\/span>report card for hospitals<\/b>, graded by the patients. It also covers nursing homes and other care facilities.<\/span><\/p>\n

The assessment asks 32 simple questions, all concerning different aspects of a hospital stay. These include interaction with doctors and nurses, housekeeping, pain management, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

The HCAHPS survey has been used since 1995, though reimbursement penalties have increased in recent years. It’s <\/span>supervised by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)<\/b>. There is also a Clinical Group survey called the CGCAHPS, as well as separate surveys for ambulatory surgery and hospice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The purpose of the HCAHPS is to gives hospitals a quality grade. Higher scores on the assessment survey increase a facility’s <\/strong><\/span>reimbursement<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

What’s the HCAHPS Survey Like?<\/span><\/h2>\n

The HCAHPS assessment survey consists of 32 simple questions. The first 17 are formed as “how often” questions, such as “How often were your room and bathroom kept clean?” The multiple-choice answers are <\/span>Never, Sometimes, Usually, <\/span><\/i>and<\/span> Always.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The rest of the questions are Yes\/No or other multiple choice.<\/span><\/p>\n

The topics of the questions break down like this:<\/span><\/p>\n