The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is a patient satisfaction survey required by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) for all hospitals across the country. The survey and its results are critical, as it serves as the patient’s voice and gives a view into the patient’s perception of the care that was provided.
In 2002, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) worked together to research, develop, and test the HCAHPS survey – the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patient’s perspectives of hospital care. The implementation of HCAHPS began in October of 2006, with the first public HCAHPS score reports issued in March 2008. HCAHPS is a standardized survey administered by approved vendors or the hospital.
CMS publicly publishes the results of the survey quarterly and the results directly impact a healthcare organization’s reputation. Additionally, the government provides reimbursement based on HCAHPS results. Therefore, the higher a hospital’s HCAHPS scores are, the better its reimbursement will be, and a low HCAHPS score will lead to lower reimbursement.
A10 Delivers Results
A10 worked with our client, a large software company, to become an approved HCAHPS vendor. In addition, A10 worked with CMS to ensure our client met all the high standards needed to become an approved vendor while educating CMS on the benefits our client will bring to HCAHPS.
Now that our client is an approved vendor, their software will enable CMS to receive better data from the HCAHPS survey, which will drive better health outcomes for the patients.
