The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems
for Hospitals, or HCAHPS, is a series of patient surveys that focus on quality
from the patient perspective. Horn
Memorial Hospital participates in the surveys because the feedback from
patients and visitors is valuable and helps create programs and systems of care
that better serve our patients. Patients
that are hospitalized are randomly chosen to participate in the surveys. Horn Memorial has a 47% return rate, which is
very strong in comparison to peers.
There are many areas in which Horn Memorial outperforms its
peers. One such measure is the Overall
Rating of Horn Memorial. In 2015, 87% of
patients surveyed rated Horn Memorial at a “9” or “10” on a 10 point scale,
with “0” being the worst possible hospital and “10” being the best possible
hospital. In comparison, the state of
Iowa’s hospitals collectively averaged 76%, and the national average was 72%
for this measure. Hospital CEO Chris
Nichols comments, “This is a tremendous achievement and a credit to the entire
HMH team. It proves what we ALREADY know,
that we provide great care to our patients.
But we’re also always looking for ways to improve what we do. I think that commitment is why we stand out
and will hopefully continue to do so.”
Another area where HMH stands out is the “cleanliness of the
hospital environment.” For that measure,
so far in 2016, Horn ranks in the 98th percentile among its hospital peers. Meaning, in the entire database of hospitals
who use the same measurement tool (over 2000), Horn rated better than 98% of
them. There’s no doubt that the
cleanliness of the hospital environment influences patient’s “overall” experience. Visitors and vendors who do not frequent Horn
on a regular basis often comment on the overall cleanliness of the
facility. The hospital is celebrating
this achievement with a party for the entire housekeeping staff on September 14th. Members of the HMH Environmental Services
team as shown in the picture from the back row:
Zach Jepsen, Erin Hammond, Jessica Brown, Bev Roe; front row: Kit Svendsen, Ingrid Ulven, Felisha Payne,
and Kelly Harris. Environmental Services
staff who was absent at the time of the photo were Nona Engelke and John Burk.
