Congratulations to MHS 2014 HCAHPS Patient Experience Top Inpatient Units

2 Units Beat the 4Q 2014 & 2014 VBP Benchmark for "Overall Rating of Hospital": MH 9th Floor Cardiac & WH 5th Floor Mother/Baby  

Every member of the Methodist Health System family has a vital role to play in our success, especially in achievement of Excellent HCAHPS "patient experience of care" survey scores that shape consumer choice and help us earn full payment for the care we provide through the government's Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program.

Why are excellent patient survey scores so important?

• OUR PATIENTS & REPUTATION: Surveys are one of the ways patients tell us whether we are consistently providing patient-centered care and delivering on the brand promise that is The Meaning of Care.
• OUR FINANCIAL FUTURE: Survey scores below the Excellent benchmark keep us from earning full payment for the care we provide. 

Understanding Value-Based Purchasing
In 2012, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began rewarding hospitals' high-quality care through the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program. VBP rewards hospitals for their inpatient acute care services based on quality of care, not number of services -- a shift from volume-based to value-based reimbursement.

Points are awarded for achievement and improvement on specific measures: certain clinical processes of care, patient experience of care survey results, and clinical outcomes such as readmission and mortality rates.

Patient Surveys: PRC & HCAHPS
To keep all employees informed about our patients' satisfaction with their MHS experience, for the past two years, quarterly top 10 lists of our "Top Performers" and "Most Improved" units were posted to Employee Connections.

These lists were based on the results of a survey tool provided by Professional Research Consultants (PRC) to measure patient loyalty and satisfaction. It is a survey tool we used in the past for both inpatient and outpatient hospital units.

Effective July 2014, MHS shifted its patient survey focus for almost all inpatient hospital units. Now MHS hospital inpatient units -- except NICU, Observation and Rehab -- exclusively use the HCAHPS patient surveys required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) as part of the VPB Program.

Methodist's use of HCAHPS is not new. We began using it over a decade ago as part of our continuous performance improvement process. What is relatively new is the posting of HCAHPS inpatient patient experience "Top Performers" on Employee Connections.

"Overall Rating of Hospital"
The patient experience of care measure featured here is the one every employee has the power to impact: "Overall Rating of Hospital." Patients may consider any and all experiences, impressions or interactions with us in shaping this rating.

For full VBP payment, we must achieve Excellent scores at the national benchmark established by CMS on a 100-point scale. For this year and this measure, that means a score above 83.97. Hospitals nationwide are working harder than ever to raise their scores, attain benchmarks in all areas and earn full payment. We can expect benchmarks to rise, and we will need to continue stepping up our game to beat the benchmark.

2 MHS HCAHPS Top Performers Beat the Benchmark   
Congratulations go to the top-performing MHS inpatient units that met or exceeded the current VPB benchmark of 83.97 for the measure entitled "Overall Rating of Hospital" for fourth quarter 2014 as well as for all of 2014.

Unit	Inpatient HCAHPS 4Q2014	Inpatient HCAHPS 2014 Overall
MH 9th Floor Cardiac	87.40	86.42
WH 5th Floor Mother/Baby	84.07	87.31
Current National VBP Benchmark	83.97	83.97

More on Patient Satisfaction: 2014 PRC Scores 
For the 2014 PRC Top Performers among MHS hospital outpatient units -- plus NICU, Observation and Rehab -- click here.