Executive Insight

Welcome

September 18, 2008

Welcome again to HCAHPS Executive Insight, the gold button on, and regular feature of, www.hcahpsonline.org, the official HCAHPS website.

In September, we updated the HCAHPS results on the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Hospital Compare website (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov). Some highlights of note:

HCAHPS results are available for 2,595 hospitals that voluntarily surveyed and submitted data for patients discharged from January through December 2007.

The number of hospitals participating has increased from 2,565 in the previous public reporting to 2,595 in the current public reporting.
This is the first time we both rolled off an old quarter (Fourth Quarter 2006), and rolled on a new quarter (Fourth Quarter 2007), which be the standard practice in future public reporting.

A summary table of state and national HCAHPS results, and information on how to interpret this table, can be found below at Summary of HCAHPS Results

As part of our continuing oversight of the HCAHPS survey, CMS will soon begin to issue HCAHPS Bulletins to all approved survey vendors, self-administering hospitals and multi-site hospitals participating in HCAHPS. HCAHPS Bulletins will enable CMS to call attention to important issues that are discovered through our ongoing technical assistance and oversight activities, and offer guidance or correctives for prompt implementation. Clarifications or changes addressed in HCAHPS Bulletins will also be incorporated in future versions of the Quality Assurance Guidelines manuals, as well as discussed in HCAHPS training sessions.

Speaking of which, the HCAHPS Project Team plans to offer, via webinar, both Introduction to HCAHPS and HCAHPS Update training sessions in early February 2009. Scheduling information will appear soon on our HCAHPS On-Line website, and registration will open later this Fall. We encourage both Quality Improvement Organizations and hospitals that engage survey vendors to consider participating in Update training in order to gain a fuller understanding of HCAHPS.

We also encourage participating hospitals and their survey vendors to be aware of the regularly recurring dates for data submission. For the latest, please see Key Upcoming Dates below.

And as always, we invite you to share (and re-share) the material presented on HCAHPS Executive Insight. But please, when you do, include the following citation:

HCAHPS Executive Insight. hcahpsonline.org, September 18, 2008. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD. Month, Date, Year the page was accessed.
http://www.hcahpsonline.org/Executive_Insight/.

Thank you for visiting HCAHPS Executive Insight again, and please continue to do so as we update and add new content to this page. If you have any comments or suggestions for HEI, please send us an email at hcahps@azqio.sdps.org.

Sincerely,

Bill Lehrman and Liz Goldstein, Co-editors
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Key Upcoming Date

Data collected for the HCAHPS survey must be submitted to the HCAHPS warehouse, via QualityNet Exchange, by or before the deadline posted on the HCAHPS website. It is imperative that data be submitted correctly by the deadline in order for hospitals to meet RHQDAPU requirements. Once the warehouse closes, data cannot be submitted or changed in any way. CMS strongly suggests that data be submitted at least 48 hours prior to the deadline, which should allow time for resubmission if there were an error in the original submission. Hospitals are strongly encouraged to promptly inspect their Data Submission Report and/or HCAHPS Feedback Reports to confirm their data was accepted into the data warehouse.

The next deadline for submission of HCAHPS data (July, August and September 2008) is January 14, 2009.

Summary of HCAHPS Results

Available through the link below is a summary table of HCAHPS results for patients discharged between January and December 2007. This table contains the average score of participating hospitals in the most positive, or "top box", category for each of the ten publicly reported HCAHPS measures. For example, the column labeled "Comm. with Nurses" displays the percent of patients who reported that their nurses "Always" communicated well. Also shown is the number of participating hospitals and the survey response rate for each state and the nation.

To view and/or download the table please click here.

For comparative purposes, summary results from the first public reporting of HCAHPS results (patients discharged between October 2006 and June 2007) and second public reporting (patients discharged between October 2006 and September 2007) can be found in the archive section below.

To see the full range of current publicly reported results on each HCAHPS measure, as well as information on survey administration, methodology, etc., please visit the "Survey of Patients' Hospital Experiences" section of the Hospital Compare website (http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/Hospital)

Archive: Summary Table of HCAHPS Results

March 2008 - October 2006 and June 2007

Summer 2008 - October 2006 and September 2007




	Welcome September 18, 2008 Welcome again to HCAHPS Executive Insight, the gold button on, and regular feature of, www.hcahpsonline.org, the official HCAHPS website. In September, we updated the HCAHPS results on the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Hospital Compare website (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov). Some highlights of note: HCAHPS results are available for 2,595 hospitals that voluntarily surveyed and submitted data for patients discharged from January through December 2007. The number of hospitals participating has increased from 2,565 in the previous public reporting to 2,595 in the current public reporting. This is the first time we both rolled off an old quarter (Fourth Quarter 2006), and rolled on a new quarter (Fourth Quarter 2007), which be the standard practice in future public reporting. A summary table of state and national HCAHPS results, and information on how to interpret this table, can be found below at Summary of HCAHPS Results As part of our continuing oversight of the HCAHPS survey, CMS will soon begin to issue HCAHPS Bulletins to all approved survey vendors, self-administering hospitals and multi-site hospitals participating in HCAHPS. HCAHPS Bulletins will enable CMS to call attention to important issues that are discovered through our ongoing technical assistance and oversight activities, and offer guidance or correctives for prompt implementation. Clarifications or changes addressed in HCAHPS Bulletins will also be incorporated in future versions of the Quality Assurance Guidelines manuals, as well as discussed in HCAHPS training sessions. Speaking of which, the HCAHPS Project Team plans to offer, via webinar, both Introduction to HCAHPS and HCAHPS Update training sessions in early February 2009. Scheduling information will appear soon on our HCAHPS On-Line website, and registration will open later this Fall. We encourage both Quality Improvement Organizations and hospitals that engage survey vendors to consider participating in Update training in order to gain a fuller understanding of HCAHPS. We also encourage participating hospitals and their survey vendors to be aware of the regularly recurring dates for data submission. For the latest, please see Key Upcoming Dates below. And as always, we invite you to share (and re-share) the material presented on HCAHPS Executive Insight. But please, when you do, include the following citation: HCAHPS Executive Insight. hcahpsonline.org, September 18, 2008. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD. Month, Date, Year the page was accessed. http://www.hcahpsonline.org/Executive_Insight/. Thank you for visiting HCAHPS Executive Insight again, and please continue to do so as we update and add new content to this page. If you have any comments or suggestions for HEI, please send us an email at hcahps@azqio.sdps.org. Sincerely, Bill Lehrman and Liz Goldstein, Co-editors Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Key Upcoming Date Data collected for the HCAHPS survey must be submitted to the HCAHPS warehouse, via QualityNet Exchange, by or before the deadline posted on the HCAHPS website. It is imperative that data be submitted correctly by the deadline in order for hospitals to meet RHQDAPU requirements. Once the warehouse closes, data cannot be submitted or changed in any way. CMS strongly suggests that data be submitted at least 48 hours prior to the deadline, which should allow time for resubmission if there were an error in the original submission. Hospitals are strongly encouraged to promptly inspect their Data Submission Report and/or HCAHPS Feedback Reports to confirm their data was accepted into the data warehouse. The next deadline for submission of HCAHPS data (July, August and September 2008) is January 14, 2009. Summary of HCAHPS Results Available through the link below is a summary table of HCAHPS results for patients discharged between January and December 2007. This table contains the average score of participating hospitals in the most positive, or "top box", category for each of the ten publicly reported HCAHPS measures. For example, the column labeled "Comm. with Nurses" displays the percent of patients who reported that their nurses "Always" communicated well. Also shown is the number of participating hospitals and the survey response rate for each state and the nation. To view and/or download the table please click here. For comparative purposes, summary results from the first public reporting of HCAHPS results (patients discharged between October 2006 and June 2007) and second public reporting (patients discharged between October 2006 and September 2007) can be found in the archive section below. To see the full range of current publicly reported results on each HCAHPS measure, as well as information on survey administration, methodology, etc., please visit the "Survey of Patients' Hospital Experiences" section of the Hospital Compare website (http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/Hospital) Archive: Summary Table of HCAHPS Results March 2008 - October 2006 and June 2007 Summer 2008 - October 2006 and September 2007