HCAHPS and the Planetree Model of Patient-Centered Care

Developed in partnership by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), the HCAHPS survey is a nationally standardized survey that captures patients’ perspectives of their hospital care. It allows consumers, for the first time, to compare hospitals based on measures of how effectively they are satisfying patients’ needs and expectations. Individual hospital’s HCAHPS performance can be viewed by any interested consumer on the government’s Hospital Compare web site. The survey questions look beyond clinical outcomes and technical capabilities of hospitals and focus instead on aspects of the care experience that are particularly meaningful to patients, including communication with physicians and nurses, pain management, noise levels, and cleanliness.
  
Planetree hospitals have long been engaged in the work of identifying and responding to the full range of patient needs, many of which are explicitly measured by the HCAHPS survey, including communication with nurses and physicians, responsiveness of staff, and cleanliness and quiet in the hospital. Developed based on direct feedback collected from patients, the Planetree model of patient-centered care is structured around ten core components that represent diverse aspects of the hospital experience that patients have identified as important to them. Ranging from caring interactions with providers and the physical environment of the hospital to recognition of the role of spirituality, the arts and food in healing, these essential aspects of patient-centered care reflect that, from the patient perspective, hospitalization encompasses far more than the clinical experience.

The connection between HCAHPS performance and the Planetree model is reinforced by data.  Six organizations that have comprehensively implemented the Planetree model over the period of several years, as demonstrated by their participation in pilot-testing Planetree’s Patient-Centered Hospital Designation Program, as a group exceeded the national HCAHPS benchmarks in all ten HCAHPS domains, with a 10% difference in patients’ willingness to recommend the hospital. 

Health Care Consumers and the HCAHPS Survey
The HCAHPS Survey and the Hospital Compare website are valuable tools that put meaningful and understandable information about hospitals directly in the hands of consumers. As information about hospitals’ performance on patient care quality indicators – such as HCAHPS – becomes more readily available, health care consumers are empowered to make more informed decisions about where they receive their health care. 

To supplement the information consumers may gather at the Hospital Compare Website, Planetree has made available a list of questions to ask about hospital operations and policies, including approaches to visitation, sharing of one’s medical chart, ability to tailor one’s meal choices and times, and availability of complementary therapies. The complete list of “Questions to Ask Your Hospital About Patient-Centered Care” is available HERE.