Running head: THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

The Effects HCAHPS Have on Reimbursement and Nursing

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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

The Effects HCAHPS Have on Reimbursement and Nursing

The HCAHPS refers to the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers, and

it is a survey concerning the views of patients towards the services they receive in medical

facilities. It is an instrument used to survey and collect data concerning the perceptions of

patients towards the treatment they receive in hospitals. Many hospitals have collected

information on patient satisfaction for their use, but now HCAHPS has emerged to help collect

and report information concerning the experiences of patients in care and compare this

information across hospitals on a local, regional, and national level (Geiger, 2012).Through

public reporting, the survey adds incentives for hospitals to increase the quality of the care that

they offer. It also enhances the accountability in health care by increasing transparency of the

quality of care provided in hospitals. Nurses, however, do not feel comfortable being held

accountable for patient satisfaction, and many of these nurses are concerned with the answers

that many patients give in response to the treatment that they receive in hospitals. The surveys

are often disturbing to the nurses because they ask questions to matters concerning the service

that they receive in the hospitals.

Healthcare providers that this approach to surveying is not appropriate and may cause

concern among nurses. However, HCAHPS can also be seen as a positive aspect of nursing

because it helps nurses to understand the various areas of shortcoming and furthermore work to

improve in these regions. Therefore, nurses will benefit from this initiative because it will help

enhance their performance (Kutney-Lee et all, 2013). The HCAHPS survey asks discharged

patients concerning some questions regarding their experiences in the hospital during their stay.

It contains questions concerning the critical aspects of the patient experiences, also includes

matters that are relevant to understanding their likes, and dislikes concerning the treatment that
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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

they receive in the hospital. It is an important aspect of customer care in hospitals and helps

improve performance.

HCAHPS has an enormous impact on reimbursement as the survey may assist in determining

underlying issues concerning the treatment that patients receive in healthcare facilities. Many

hospitals look to attain high patient satisfaction ratings, and in recent times reimbursements will

be offered after observing the quality of treatment that is given to the patient (Kutney-Lee et all,

2013). Reimbursement will be available after comparing hospitals on their adherence to clinical

performance guidelines as well as on the patients’ perception of the quality of healthcare that

they receive. The analysis will be based don a survey that would ask such questions as the

aspects of the patients on such issues as pain control, cleanliness of rooms and as to whether they

felt that they were treated with respect by the hospital.

The HCAHPS survey will allow comparisons in objectives between hospitals and help

create incentives to improve care as well as enhance accountability and increase the transparency

in the quality of healthcare offered with public money. Recent developments have occurred in

the way that HCAHPS data is analyzed, and this has caused many hospitals to criticize the

validity of these results. Reports suggest that high-level hospitals often tend to have lower patient

satisfaction scores. Furthermore, hospitals, which have superior scores in clinical measures, may

however suffer from bad reviews by patients (Geiger,2012).Hospitals believe that, while it is

important for hospitals to value the opinions and perceptions of patients, it is also necessary to

put more emphasis on performance and professionalism in these hospitals. There are fears that

the HCAHPS survey asks questions in a way that influences the answers of patients. Therefore,

these issues already implant certain notions in the minds of these patients as they answer certain
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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

questions. Patient surveys improve patient care in the end, but it was worrying to note that more

access to disbursement often relies on the scores from these surveys.

Therefore, the HCAHPS survey indeed puts more pressure on hospitals to perform

according to the expected standards of the patient. HCAHPS also has a huge effect on nursing

practices, and the survey is influencing nursing practices in various ways. It has led to the rise in

pay for performance arrangements and the public release of Hospital Consumer Assessment of

Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey (Geiger, 2012).The working situation of

the nurse is often related to the HCAHPS satisfaction ratings, and the nurse workloads are often

associated with the patient ratings as well as the recommendations of the survey. The survey is

important because it often leads all the involved stakeholders to come up with ways of improving

the working environment of these nurses and these include improving nurse staffing as well as

patient experience and the quality of care given to the patients. To avoid a 2% reduction in

payments, all hospitals must participate in the HCAHPS survey.

The survey was endorsed by oversight boards, and it has led to the incorporation of

performance plans as well as the introduction of quality performance practices in order to

measure and report patient satisfaction. It has given hospitals the financial incentive to improve

the quality of healthcare that they give out to increase patient satisfaction. It has also increased

accountability in nursing, and the outcomes of these surveys are put out in public for all

consumers and payers to assess (Kutney-Lee et all,2013).Patient satisfaction has been associated

with a change in nursing approaches, and the use of the HCAHPS survey has served as a vital

organ in monitoring the performance of nurses. The survey has a significant role to play in the

distributions of nurse staffing, work environments as well as other hospital characteristics. The

outcomes of these surveys have a huge effect on the nursing environment. Measuring nursing
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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

practices through the use of this survey have changed medical practices as all stakeholders are

now concerned with offering quality care to patients and ensuring that they can benefit from

these improved services. The HCAHPS survey, therefore, has a major effect on nursing and has

changed the outlook to nursing practices.

The use of qualitative analysis to understand patient satisfaction scores will present some

challenges. However, the use of survey tools will help to analyze the situation better. One

quantitative method that would apply in this case would be the use of online survey with

questions aimed at various medical professionals. The respondents in this survey would help

analysts to understand better the effect that the HCAHPS has in the nursing practice. It would

also contribute to clarifying the outcomes to treatment with the aim of understanding various

aspects of nursing about patient satisfaction. There are some research questions helpful to the

investigation and help to address the research problem.

1. How does HCAHPS affect nursing outcomes?

2. How has the survey helped hospitals improve nursing practices?

3. Is HCAHPS a viable method of assessing the quality of treatment given to patients?

It would be necessary to implement individual designs associated with the methodology to

answer these research questions. One model that can be applied in this initiative will be

producing comparative data based on the perspectives of patients concerning the quality of

treatment that they receive in hospitals (Geiger,2012).Another design that will be implemented

will include interviewing the patients on a one-on –one basis to understand personal views
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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

concerning these research questions. By doing this, then practical outcomes to these research

questions will be realized.

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THE EFFECTS HCAHPS HAVE ON REIMBURSEMENT AND NURSING.

References

Geiger, N. (2012). On Tying Medicare Reimbursement to Patient Satisfaction Surveys. AJN,

American Journal of Nursing, 112(7), 11. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/01.naj.0000415936.64171.3a

Kutney-Lee, A., McHugh, M., Sloane, D., Cimiotti, J., Flynn, L., Neff, D., & Aiken, L. (2013).

Nursing a Key to Patient Satisfaction. Health Affairs, 28(4), w669-w677.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.28.4.w669