Healthgrades Announces 2013 Outstanding Patient Experience Award™ Recipients

DENVER, April 9, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Healthgrades, the leading online resource that helps consumers search, evaluate, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals, today released a new report, Improving Patient Experience: Identifying the Things That Matter.  The report looks at the 455 hospitals that are recipients of the 2013 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award^™.  These hospitals, representing less than 15% of the hospitals in the nation, have figured out an approach to patient experience that stands out among the rest.

As the U.S. healthcare system faces new reimbursement models that value patient experience, the nation's hospitals are working to improve their overall patient experience.  According to HealthLeaders Media, 84% of health leaders rank patient experience among their top three priorities.  In fact, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) new Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program uses patient experience information from HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, a commonly used survey instrument), to inform a significant portion of their reimbursement plan.

Healthgrades report focuses on the on the relationship between specific actions and behaviors taking place within the hospital and the likelihood of patients to recommend a hospital, as measured by HCAHPS surveys.  According to Healthgrades analysis, the areas that had the highest relationship to receiving a positive recommendation score have a common thread – the personal touch (including nurse communication, receiving discharge instructions, pain control and receiving help quickly).

"Hospitals can use the findings in the report, especially as it relates to patient-provider communication, as a wake-up call as to the importance of listening to their patients in order to improve the patient experience," said Evan Marks, EVP, Informatics and Strategy, Healthgrades. "For consumers, the report can be a guide to identify those hospitals that can provide the most positive experience during their hospital stay."

Today, Healthgrades also issued a new report entitled, "Variation in Patient Safety Outcomes and the Importance of Being Informed" that analyzes patient safety data.  For more information about Healthgrades, to see the complete list of 2013 Healthgrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award^™ or Healthgrades 2013 Patient Safety Excellence Award^™ recipients and related methodology, or to download a full copy of either report, please visit: www.Healthgrades.com/quality today.

About Healthgrades
Healthgrades, headquartered in Denver, Colorado, is the leading online resource for comprehensive information about physicians and hospitals. More than 225 million visitors use the Healthgrades websites to search, evaluate, compare and connect with physicians and hospitals that best meet their treatment needs.  Consumers are empowered through use of the Healthgrades proprietary information about clinical outcomes, satisfaction, safety, and health conditions to make more informed healthcare decisions and take action.  For more information please visit www.healthgrades.com and www.bettermedicine.com.

SOURCE Healthgrades