Make your plans now to join us at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN on September 2-5, 2008.

The Summit 2008 Creating Excellence in Healthcare will include exciting keynote speakers and powerful research and learning breakout sessions that will help your organization redefine excellence. This year’s Summit helps healthcare organizations turn insight into action with 21 research breakout sessions and 16 learning breakout sessions that cover the following tracks:

Patients—HCAHPS, pain management, Value-Based Purchasing . . .
Employees—multi-generational workforces, engagement . . .
Physicians—loyalty, engagement, alignment . . .
Communities—improving image, marketing ROI . . .

Don’t Miss the Opportunity to Continue Your Education through the 2008 HealthStream Summit!

This year’s research breakout sessions offer you the opportunity to earn continuing education credit! Out of the 21 research sessions, 20 have been approved by ACHE for Continuing Education Units (CNU), 16 have been approved by ANA for Continuing Nursing Education (CNE), and 15 out of the 21 have been approved for both CNU and CNE.

To view the full Summit brochure, along with details for ACHE and/or ANCC accreditation, click here.

Awards Dinner and a Night of Nashville-Style Entertainment!

Plan to join us Thursday night, September 4, for an evening of celebrating, socializing and Nashville style entertainment! We will recognize the recipients of HealthStream Research’s Excellence through Insight Awards at a special Awards Dinner. After dinner, HealthStream will welcome you to Nashville with a taste of what Nashville is famous for! This entertaining and energetic show features a cast of Nashville singers and talented musicians who will delight you with R&B, Country, Pop, Comedy and Impersonations! Plan to join us for a night of music and entertainment suited for all audiences!

Our Summit registration is now open and the registration fee is $499. Register by July 31st and save $50 when you enter the invitation code HSR2008.

Register Here

Presented by:
Robin L. Rose
Senior Vice President-Consulting Services
HealthStream Research


Over the past two years, HealthStream Research has collected a large amount of HCAHPS data and worked with hundreds of clients to help improve their patient scores. In this webinar, we would like to share some of the things we are learning about HCAHPS. We will discuss topics such as …

• How do you set priorities based on the HCAHPS results?
• What do you have to do to be in the Top 20% of hospitals nationally?
• How does physician and employee satisfaction relate to the HCAHPS scores?
• What actions are hospitals around the country taking to improve their patient scores?

This session will be led by Robin L. Rose, Senior Vice President-Consulting Services, HealthStream Research. Robin has more than 25 years experience working with healthcare organizations to interpret research results and improve patient, physician, and employee survey scores. Please join us on July 31st as we discuss this very important topic.

Date: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Time: 3:00-4:00 ET
Forum: Online webinar
Cost: $99 per log-in - the number of participants per log-in is unlimited. Clients save $50 and pay only $49! Email us at researchinfo@healthstream.com for the special client invitation code.

Registration Required. Click the link below to register online. Payment is required at the time of registration via credit card. Instructions on accessing the webinar will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Register Online

HCAHPS Data Submission update

All HCAHPS data collected by HealthStream for Q108 (Jan – Mar 08) has been successfully uploaded and accepted by CMS through QNet. Hospitals are encouraged to log into their QNet account and view their submitted data.

The next upload deadline is October 8, 2008 and includes data collected for Q208 (Apr –Jun 08) discharges.

THIRD HCAHPS PUBLIC REPORTING – SEPTEMBER 2008

The results from the third public reporting period are now available for preview before the results will be released to the public. The review period will last through August 14, 2008.

• QUARTERS INCLUDED: 1Q07, 2Q07, 3Q07, 4Q07
• SUPPRESSION ALLOWED? Yes, for both IPPS and CAH hospitals
• DATE OF PREVIEW: July - August 2008
• DATE OF PUBLIC REPORTING: September 2008

Should a hospital wish to suppress their data, they will need to complete and submit the suppression form found on their My Quality Net.

2nd Update to www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

The next update to hospital compare is expected in the upcoming weeks.

Following the update, the data displayed will cover HCAHPS results for October 2006 – September 2007 discharges. Any hospital that participated in the voluntary HCAHPS collection period and did NOT opt to suppress data during the April Preview period will have their data included with this update.


For HCAHPS questions or assistance from HealthStream Research:

Bobbi Rogers
Client Services Consultant at (301) 575-9300
bobbi.rogers@healthstream.com

Briley Price
Project Manager at (615) 224-1550
briley.price@healthstream.com

For questions or assistance with Quality Net Exchange:
Quality Net Exchange at qnetsupport@ifmc.sdps.org
1-866-288-8912

Official HCAHPS Website for content, announcements, updates, & reminders:
http://www.hcahpsonline.org/

Question:
Do billing practices have any effect on patient satisfaction?

Answer:

This is not addressed by the HCAHPS survey, but HealthStream Research has conducted custom studies to measure the effect of the billing experience on patient satisfaction. HealthStream Research analyzed results from patients who had not received their bill prior to being surveyed and patients who had received their bill. The results are shown below.

Click Here to read the full response from our experts