Who's behind an HCAHPS score?

Area of Science:

• Healthcare Quality
• Patient Experience
• Physician Communication

Background:

• The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey measures patient satisfaction with physician communication.
• Overall HCAHPS physician ratings may not reflect variations in patient experiences with different physician types.

Purpose of the Study:

• To examine the association between patient ratings of specific physician types (emergency medicine, hospitalists, specialists) and overall physician communication scores.
• To identify factors influencing patient perceptions of physician communication.

Main Methods:

• A mixed-methods approach combining surveys and in-depth interviews with patients.
• Analysis of HCAHPS physician communication items for emergency medicine physicians, hospitalists, and specialists.
• Statistical analysis (Spearman correlation, linear regression) and qualitative thematic analysis.

Main Results:

• Patient ratings for hospitalists and specialists were significantly associated with overall physician communication scores (p < .05).
• Key themes influencing patient ratings included individual physician behavior, team communication, and system issues.
• The impact of these themes varied across different physician types.

Conclusions:

• Patient experiences with hospitalists and specialists appear to have a stronger impact on overall physician communication scores than experiences with emergency medicine physicians.
• Improving team communication and addressing system-level issues present opportunities to enhance physician communication ratings.