Howard County General Hospital

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HCAHPS

March 28, 2008

Dear Friends:

On March 28, results of the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey will be publicly available on the Hospital Compare Web site at http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov/. The HCAHPS results reveal an independent, objective look at what patients thought about the care they received at hospitals across the country.

The survey offers a snapshot of certain aspects of health care that can serve as a guide to further improvement and monitoring by hospitals, as well as help consumers make informed choices. Although all hospitals nationwide must participate in the survey, at this stage each hospital must decide whether or not their data is made public. Howard County General Hospital (HCGH): A Member Johns Hopkins Medicine is committed to providing quality, patient-centered care; therefore, we opted to have our HCAHPS data made public. We believe that it is important to be transparent with our community about the quality of care we provide our patients in an effort to help consumers be active partners in their care.

We recognize that the HCAHPS report has highlighted areas in which HCGH needs improvement and the hospital is responding. We continually seek to improve the care we provide and see these survey results as confirmation that we are making improvements in the appropriate areas. The HCAHPS feedback, along with that from other surveys, will continue to guide us in improving the HCGH patient experience.

HCGH has implemented a number of “best practices” to enhance patient care and satisfaction. One example is hourly rounding, where nursing staff check on each patient every hour to proactively address issues such as pain management, toileting, positioning and the environment. Additionally, communication training is strongly emphasized in both new employee orientation and annual staff training, as frequent communication to the patient and family has proven to greatly enhance the overall satisfaction with the hospital experience. Results of patient satisfaction surveys as well as comments, both good and bad, are displayed prominently in each department for all to read.

We also are responding to the feedback we have received regarding there being too much noise at night. As we all know, sleeping well in the hospital is often difficult and extraneous noise only makes it more difficult. In response, we are dimming the lights in the hallways at night to help remind people that the patients are sleeping and to keep voices lowered. Managers are rounding on patients to monitor clinical quality as well as to elicit feedback on practices that are successful and those which need enhancement.

We value the feedback we receive and encourage our patients and families to share their experience with us as we continue to strive to excel. At Howard County General Hospital “good” isn't good enough, we strive to be “very good.”

That said, there is more much work to do to improve the satisfaction of our patients' experience at Howard County General Hospital. We shall continue to use the HCAHPS feedback, along with that from other survey tools, to help us improve the HCGH patient experience.