Three Ways Non-Clinical Employees Are Critical to Your HCAHPS Scores

According to the HCAHPS Executive Insight, more than 30,000 patients are surveyed every day about their recent hospital experience.  And, every day, more than 8,400 patients complete the HCAHPS survey.  Based in part on the outcomes of those surveys, hospitals can lose or gain up to 2% of their CMS reimbursements.  

Direct care providers understandably get the lion’s share of attention when it comes to HCAHPS scores, but ignore the role your non-clinical employees play at your own peril.  Here are three reasons your non-clinical employees might be the difference between “ho-hum” and “holy cow” scores.

1. First In, Last Out
   Non-clinical employees are often the first people that interact with patients when they enter your hospital, and the last person a patient deals with when leaving.  In other words, they make the first and last impression.  Common sense and plenty of research shows how critical those experiences are in setting an overall impression.

2. Root Cause
   As the old proverb tells us, “for want of a nail…a kingdom fell.”  The moral in healthcare is the less support our front-line caregivers get, the less likely they will be able to provide the level of care they would otherwise give.  When non-clinical areas are understaffed, reports get delayed, admissions back-up, technology lags, housekeeping slows…all of which makes it harder for clinicians to do their jobs and more likely for patients to be unhappy.

3. Questions 21 & 22
   The so-called “Global Topics” are really the “Intangible Value” questions.  Just as a goodwill asset value represents the intangible worth of a company, these two questions – Overall Rating and Willingness to Recommend measure the intangible value of a patient’s hospital experience.  And, as the actual quality of care improves and becomes less of a differentiator, the importance of the overall experience – driven typically by non-clinical employees – becomes tremendous.

When it comes to HCAPHS scores, a hospital needs to ignore job titles and roles, and instead focus on the tasks that affect the scores; and those tasks are shared by clinical and nonclinical employees alike!

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GHR Technology has worked with hundreds of healthcare facilities across the nation, helping them better understand and solve their staffing challenges.  

We specialize in placing non-clinical personnel in temporary, temp-to-perm and direct hire positions. Through our consulting services, we streamline your hiring processes, identify areas for cost reduction and help improve your staff retention – objective advice helping you do more with less.

We would love to do the same for you.