HCAHPS stands for the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. It is a survey for determining patient satisfaction in the United States of America. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) in the US requires that all hospitals conduct this survey. The survey is mainly conducted by sound mind adult patients.
One of the popular ways to improve patient satisfaction is to do away with unnecessary noise around the hospital environment. Our facility does this by providing patients with earplugs. We also improve the environment by giving patients light blocking masks to put on. There are also cards around the hospitals written: "Please, Keep your voices low." We also give our patient's puzzle games like crosswords to play. These measures may not seem too effective, but they were greatly influenced by the scores we obtained from HCAHPS. Furthermore, they help in providing conducive environments for patients to rest comfortably and with minimum stress ( Al-Amin, Makarem, & Rosko, 2016) .
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As mentioned earlier, it is a requirement by the CMS that patients who take part in this survey be adults and not psychiatric ones ( Cima, et al., 2016) . So our facility strictly abides by this regulation. We take our sample patients first, from the patients that were named in the cover letter during the hospital stay, which is also a requirement regulator. Then we go for fully sound mind patients who are capable for at least seeing or hearing and communicating. We ensure all the patients are adults who can give reliable information.
Our surveys are then sent out via papers that are in the form of questionnaires mainly. We assist patients in filling up the questionnaire. The Hospital board chooses persons that they trust in assisting in filling the data. We read to patients who cannot see and fill the data to them. We also help those who cannot write by filling the data. There are papers designed for the blind who are willing to take part in the survey. Other capable patients are simply given the papers to fill in and submit upon completion. We use electronic means like mail or publishing the survey on our websites for patients who have been discharged. We do have posters in and around the hospital that advertise the upcoming HCAHPS activities.
Generally, there is a high return rate of survey papers. Our patients who are admitted in the hospital fill the survey questionnaire and return them just in a couple of days. Those who have been discharged have also shown interest in taking part in the survey and returning them. All the patients just want their voices heard and are, therefore, doing the survey and submitting them ( Qayyum, et al., 2014) . We then gather the survey data together and get ready to analyze them. Our facility employs a special team that statistically analyses the feedback from the patients and presents reasonable results to the hospital and the hospital board.
HCAHPS perceive the data to be so much important. This data can help in improving healthcare across the country. The data is so critical in providing the current state of a healthcare institution ( Gestring, et al., 2015) . It gives a reflection on how a hospital operates and generally, the necessary measures that have to be taken to improve the conditions of the healthcare institutions. All the data feedback is publicly posted on the HCAHPS websites and linked to other hospitals. There are also feedback reports dropped at the hospitals. This way, all the feedback reaches the providers and front line stuff at these healthcare institutions. The organization has also found a way of rewarding the hospital that turns out to have provided the best medical conditions, as reported from the surveys.
References
Al-Amin, M., Makarem, S. C., & Rosko, M. (2016). Efficiency and hospital effectiveness in improving the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems ratings. Health care management review , 41 (4), 296-305.
Kahn, S. A., Iannuzzi, J. C., Stassen, N. A., Bankey, P. E., & Gestring, M. (2015). Measuring satisfaction: factors that drive hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems survey responses in a trauma and acute care surgery population. The American Surgeon , 81 (5), 537-543
Siddiqui, Z. K., Wu, A. W., Kurbanova, N., & Qayyum, R. (2014). Comparison of Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems patient satisfaction scores for specialty hospitals and general medical hospitals: confounding the effect of survey response rate. Journal of hospital medicine , 9 (9), 590-593.
Thiels, C. A., Hanson, K. T., Yost, K. J., Zielinski, M. D., Habermann, E. B., & Cima, R. R. (2016). Effect of hospital case mix on the hospital consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems star scores. Annals of surgery , 264 (4), 666-673.
