To continuously improve, Sentara partners with National Research Corporation to survey patients about their experience at our facilities.
The feedback we receive from patients provides helpful information for our health care team on what matters most to the people they treat every day. Through initiatives such as this survey, Sentara remains committed to improving the health care experience for every patient.
Patient satisfaction, however, is not the ultimate factor in making health care decisions. Quality of care ratings and reports are essential in evaluating health care.
What You Need to Know
- Patients and their families should look at several factors when making health care choices, not just patient satisfaction.
- Scores represent the percentage of people who answered each question with the highest rating possible.
- Higher scores are better.
National Results for Patient Satisfaction
Read more about patient satisfaction ratings at Sentara hospitals and other hospitals nationwide by going to Medicare.gov.
Patient Satisfaction Survey
To provide a standardized way for patients to rate their experiences at hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has developed a patient satisfaction survey.
While many hospitals collect information on patients’ satisfaction, CMS felt there should be a national standard for collecting and publicly reporting this information. That way, patients could make an informed and “apples to apples” comparison of hospitals across the United States.
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey evaluates patients’ experiences in hospitals on a number of factors, including communication with health care professionals, cleanliness, noise levels, pain management and the responsiveness of the hospital staff.
Three broad goals have shaped the HCAHPS survey:
- Providing hospitals with information on patient experiences so they can understand where they can improve.
- Creating incentives for hospitals to improve their quality of care.
- Providing consumers with information to help them make health care decisions.
As a participant in the HCAHPS program, Sentara can learn what is important in a patient’s hospital experience. We have many efforts in place to enhance our patients’ experiences and are actively working to develop new programs.