
Good Medicine Is More Than an HCAHPS Score
Improving patient satisfaction is a laudable and necessary goal for any hospital, particularly when revenue is at risk based on patients’ opinions regarding quality of care. But patient satisfaction measures should not be confused with good medicine – a nobler objective that delivers richer results.
Scores on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) can bring bonuses to hospitals that do well on the survey. Those that don’t may risk losing some Medicare funding under the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program. So it’s understandable that hospitals care a great deal about HCAHPS. But the survey scores should not be seen as a proxy for good medicine.