The impact of response rate on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System (HCAHPS) dimension scores

Abstract

Patient experience measurement is receiving considerable attention from hospital executives, healthcare leaders, purchasers such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and patients. It is therefore appropriate and necessary to examine the methods of survey administration, and the analysis presented here seeks to understand the impact of one particular aspect of the measurement: response rate. Utilizing publicly reported HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) data from Hospital Compare, a positive correlation between response rate and HCAHPS scores nationwide was identified and replicated. This correlation, which was most recently published by the Hospital Quality Institute (HQI) for California facilities, implies that increasing response rates can return higher HCAHPS dimension scores. Accurate patient perceptions of the inpatient experience may be hidden by insufficient representativeness of the data. In other words, publicly-reported scores may be lower than they should be, and hospitals may be mistakenly devaluing their efforts to improve the patient experience. Responses from a more representative sample of the patient population are key to capturing more accurate HCAHPS scores.

Comparison of the Assessment of Patient Satisfaction Using Active and Passive Feedback

“…Response rate ensures reliability and credibility of the results and permits the research to be generalized to the larger population. [13] In the study done by Godden et al [14] on the impact of response rate on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and System (HCAHPS), they found that with increased response rates, hospitals received valuable feedback from a higher proportion of patients, creating a more representative sample of the total hospital patient population. While we could get feedback from an adequate number of patients in AFC, it was not possible to ensure feedback from a representative group in the PFC.…”

Surgical Comanagement by Hospitalists: Continued Improvement Over 5 Years

“…While our response rate of 21.1% for HCAHPS was comparable to the national average of 26.7%, it may not reliably represent our patient population. 15 Lastly, we had limited financial data. a Adjusted for age, primary insurance, race, Charlson comorbidity score, general or regional anesthesia, surgical service, and duration of surgery.…”

Pediatric Quality-of-Life Scores Following a Multidisciplinary Aerodigestive Team Approach to Manage Chronic Cough

“…Generally speaking, participants are more likely to complete surveys if they are either very satisfied or very dissatisfied with the services provided. 16…”