Hospital for Special Surgery Reports 2009 Scores on HCAHPS Survey

NEW YORK—April 17, 2009

The Hospital Quality Alliance released its second Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores for hospitals nationwide on different aspects of patient care as rated by patients themselves. This year, Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) in New York City again scored well above both the New York State and national averages in both overall patient satisfaction and patient willingness to recommend the hospital to others. HSS was ranked the number one hospital in orthopedics by U.S.News & World Report in its 2008 "America's Best Hospitals" issue.

“Our patients’ continued willingness to recommend us to others is a reflection of the ongoing skill and expertise of our staff,” said Louis A. Shapiro, president and chief executive officer of Hospital for Special Surgery. “That we have maintained our high score in overall patient satisfaction is a testament to the superb care and environment provided by the entire team involved in a patient’s treatment and recovery.”

Survey results indicated 79 percent of patients admitted to Hospital for Special Surgery ranked their overall satisfaction with the hospital a 9 or 10 quality rating on a 10 point scale, up two points from last year. By comparison, the New York State average was 56 percent, and only 64 percent of patients nationally on average scored their overall satisfaction at their hospital that favorably.

The survey also found 87 percent of Special Surgery patients were willing to recommend the hospital to others, also an increase in two points. Nationally, only 68 percent of patients were inclined to recommend their hospital to others with the New York State average at only 61 percent.

The Hospital Quality Alliance is a national public-private collaboration of hospital groups, consumer representatives, physician and nursing organizations, employers and payers, oversight organizations and government agencies dedicated to encouraging hospitals to voluntarily collect and make public quality of care information. The HCAHPS survey consists of 27 questions asking patients, after they have left the hospital, how often different aspects of care were provided. The Hospital Quality Alliance hopes that this survey will provide an independent, objective look at patients’ experience while they were in the hospital.

Hospital for Special Surgery encourages the sharing of this information as part of a continuous effort to have a clear dialogue about the quality of care it provides. The hospital has long conducted its own internal surveys to assess patient satisfaction and address areas needing more support.

For the other areas of the HCAHPS survey, such as communication with nurses and pain control, Hospital for Special Surgery was above the New York State average and within range of national averages. The hospital has a number of initiatives in place to enhance patient satisfaction in all of HCAHP’s areas. Nearly 80 percent of Special Surgery patients said they were always satisfied with the communication they had with doctors.

“We are, of course, pleased to have increased our score in key areas and, in general, once again scored so high,” said Shapiro, “but there are always opportunities to do even better. In addition to the patient satisfaction surveys we always conduct, these results provide an important benchmark to assess our patients’ experience and we work very hard to exceed the expectations of our patients who chose to come to HSS to receive the best musculoskeletal care in the world.”

For more detailed information on the HCAHPS survey and Hospital for Special Surgery’s scores, please visit the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.