Looking for HCAHPS survey questions? We’ve got you covered.
In this article, we will:
- Get a quick rundown of HCAHPS and its purpose.
- Learn the seven areas to be measured with HCAHPS survey questions.
- Check out some common questions related to HCAHPS.
What is HCAHPS?
The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey questions measure a patient’s treatment and experience at a healthcare facility. They are given to patients during or shortly after their release.
How is HCAHPS different from other patient discharge forms?
- HCAHPS surveys are standardized. We can add a section for customized, hospital-specific questions, but the core questions remain the same. This lets you capture consistent patient information on their healthcare experience and enables a more meaningful comparison.
- HCAHPS surveys are a national standard in the US. Patient satisfaction surveys are common. But the HCAHPS was the first national survey for collecting and publicly reporting patient feedback on healthcare.
- HCAHPS survey data is available in the public domain. You can find summaries and analyses of the results on hcahpsonline.org.
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HCAHPS Survey Questions 2022
HCAHPS survey questions gather information on seven key areas.
#A. Care from Nurses
1. During your hospital stay, how often did the nurse treat you with courtesy and respect?
2. How often did the nurses listen carefully to you?
3. During your hospital stay, how often did the nurse explain things in a way you could understand?
4. After you pressed the “Call” button, how often did you get help as soon as you wanted it?
#B. Care from Doctors
5. How often did the doctor treat you with courtesy and respect?
6. How often did the doctor listen to you carefully?
7. How often did the doctor explain things in a way you could understand?
#C. The Hospital Environment
8. How often were your room and bathroom kept clean during this hospital stay?
9. How often was the area around the room quiet at night?
#D. The Hospital Experience
10. Did you need help from the nurses or other hospital staff in getting to the bathroom/in using a bedpan?
11. How often did you get help getting to the bathroom/in using a bedpan as soon as you wanted?
12. Were you given any medicine you had not taken before?
13. Before giving you any new medication, how often did the staff tell you what the medicine was for?
14. Before giving you any new medication, how often did the staff describe possible side effects in a way you could understand?
#E. Leaving the Hospital
15. After leaving the hospital, did you go directly to your own home, someone else’s home, or another health facility?
16. During this hospital stay, did doctors, nurses, or other staff talk with you about whether you would have the help you need when you left the hospital?
17. Did you get information in writing about what symptoms or health problems to look out for after you left the hospital?
#F. Overall Rating of the Hospital
18. How would you rate this hospital during your stay?
19. Would you recommend this hospital to your friends or family?
#G. About the Patient
20. During this hospital stay, were you admitted to this hospital through the Emergency Room?
21. Overall, how would you rate your physical health?
22. Overall, how would you rate your mental or emotional health?
23. What is the highest grade or school level that you have completed?
24. Are you of Spanish, Hispanic, or Latino origin or descent?
25. What is your race? Please choose one or more.
26. What language do you mainly speak at home?
FAQs
Who can take the HCAHPS survey?
Any patient who is at least 18 years old at the time of admission to the hospital can take the survey. They must also have stayed at least one full night and should not have any psychiatric diagnosis.
Who is not covered under the HCAHPS?
Patients who are under 18 at the time of admission, and psychiatric patients, aren’t covered under the survey. This is because the current HCAHPS survey questions aren’t designed to cover these patients’ unique situations and needs.
Moreover, some patient categories, like prisoners, and those with a home address outside the US, are also ineligible because collecting feedback from them is physically challenging enough to be unfeasible.
What are the three goals of the HCAHPS survey?
According to the HCAHPS Fact Sheet, the three broad goals of HCAHPS surveys include:
- Enabling meaningful comparisons of hospitals on matters that are important to patients.
- Creating incentives to improve the current quality of care – through public reporting of results.
- Improving accountability of hospitals by increasing transparency about the way they operate.
How is the HCAHPS survey administered?
Hospitals can use a survey vendor or administer the HCAHPS survey themselves through forms, mail, telephone or interactive voice response.
Wrapping Up
As per the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), over 4,000 hospitals and three million patients participate in the HCAHPS survey.
If you’re someone who would like to participate, or you’re looking to replicate this survey for your own hospital, we hope this listicle was helpful.
Any questions? Drop us a line here. We’re always up for a chat!
