Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Light Up Your Patient Satisfaction Scores


The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is the first standardized, publicly reported survey of patient’s perspectives of hospital care. First introduced to the public in 2008, it was intended to help consumers compare the quality of healthcare providers and improve the conditions and transparency inside these facilities. Patients are asked about staff’s responsiveness to needs, quality of care and communication, cleanliness, quietness, and more.
Fast forward seven years later and only roughly 13% of U.S. hospitals received the highest score (5 stars) on the new rating system introduced by the CMS. Out of around 3,500 facilities, 101 received one star, 582 received two-stars, 1,414 received three-stars, 1,205 received four-stars, and 251 received five-stars. 

In 2018, patient satisfaction has only grown more vital for the success of a healthcare facility and staff. Patient quality perception has become a top priority for healthcare leaders with negative word of mouth potentially costing $6,000 - $400,000 in lost healthcare revenues over one patient’s lifetime. 

On the brighter note, satisfied patients result in more individuals following treatment plans, returning to the same facility for future needs, lowered risk of being named in lawsuits, and either improving or educating the reasoning behind unpopular patient processes.

How can lighting help healthcare services save time, money, jobs, and increase survey results?

A study comparing patient-satisfaction forms with staff performance showed a better nurse work environment associated with higher scores on every single survey question. Professionally installed lighting can improve these environments through reducing errors, lowering stress levels in the operating room, increasing sense of security for visitors and staff, boosting overall morale, and can even better the cleaning quality by maintenance staff.

Effective lighting can also decrease length of hospital stays, improve the sleep quality of patients, reduce depression, enable critical chemical reactions in the body, and more. To learn more about these impacts, read our latest blog.

 In conclusion, the success of your practice relies heavily on patient satisfaction, so we'll leave you with this: How are you going to ensure that your hospital’s score reflects the quality of its services?



Let City Lighting Products help you begin answering that question today.


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(Source: Modern Healthcare, CMS, The Altantic, The Medical Memory, and BDC Network)