BERWYN, Pa., Sept. 17, 2018 /PRNewswire-PRWeb/ -- Today, SkillSurvey, the leading provider of online reference checking, announced results of a study showing that hospitals that use the SkillSurvey Reference® platform have higher HCAHPS star ratings than other hospitals in areas that measure patient satisfaction and since 2014, have continued to improve their ratings.
The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey is a national, standardized, publicly reported measure of patients' perspectives of hospital care conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. Star ratings for hospitals are accessible on its Hospital Compare website.
In a study conducted by the SkillSurvey Analytics team that looked at recent HCAHPS star ratings of its customers and comparable hospitals*, SkillSurvey found that hospitals using SkillSurvey ReferenceTM had statistically higher star ratings than non-customer hospitals on 9 out of 11 items and a significantly higher mean summary rating.
The areas of higher star ratings included:
- Communication with Nurses
- Staff Responsiveness
- Pain Management
- Care Transition
- Instructions about Medications
- Discharge Information
- Cleanliness
- Overall Hospital Rating
- Recommend the Hospital
"The majority of the HCAHPS survey questions relate to how well a care provider shows compassion and communicates with a patient, so it's extremely helpful to understand whether the candidates you're evaluating have those interpersonal skills and will provide an exceptional patient experience," said Dr. Cynthia Hedricks, SkillSurvey's chief analytics officer.
As part of the Pre-Hire 360 workflow in SkillSurvey Reference, the professional references of the job candidates provide responses in the form of ratings on behavioral competencies and narrative comments. SkillSurvey has more than 185 job-specific surveys for healthcare roles, that ask references about specific competencies that align with HCAHPS measures. Employers can opt to include an HCAHPS competency cluster on the candidate feedback report. Healthcare clients also use hundreds of surveys for non-clinical roles in their hospitals; the surveys in the SkillSurvey Reference library map to over 9,500 unique job titles.
"This analysis shows that HR and talent leaders in healthcare can make a significant bottom line impact on their organizations by adopting online reference checking that delivers insights on a candidate's soft skills," said Ray Bixler, president and CEO of SkillSurvey. "We're very gratified to see that our customers continue to outperform others on even more patient satisfaction measures than when we last reviewed the data."**
A hospital's HCAHPS survey results factor into Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) as hospitals are paid for inpatient acute care services based on the quality of care, not just quantity of the services they provide.
About SkillSurvey®
SkillSurvey applies the science of human behavior and harnesses the power of insights and data to create a fuller picture of the people you recruit and hire. SkillSurvey makes the referencing and credentialing process more efficient and effective — by helping employers save time and money, by onboarding employees faster, and by growing revenues. Visit SkillSurvey at http://www.skillsurvey.com, and on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
SkillSurvey® is a registered trademark of SkillSurvey Inc. or its affiliates and registered in the U.S. and other countries.
© 2018 SkillSurvey Inc. and its affiliates.
Media Contacts
SkillSurvey: Stephanie Sabath, Sloane & Company, (212) 446-1873, [email protected]
*The study looked at the most recent HCAHPS Star Ratings data downloaded (ratings from 2016/2017) and compared customer hospitals (n=243) and non-customer hospitals (n=215) of similar size, revenues and discharge rates.
**SkillSurvey's 2013 study
SOURCE SkillSurvey, Inc.
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