Healthgrades' latest Outstanding Patient Experience Award winners are out, with the company recognizing the 373 best hospitals for patient experience across 46 states. The top commonality across these top-performers? They all rate high on patient-provider communication, the company said.
The annual awards evaluate hospitals based on Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey responses across 10 domains.
This year, Healthgrades recognized 80 hospitals that earned top marks in both patient experience and patient safety.
Additionally, the company highlighted key HCAHPS domains that strongly correlate with a good patient experience, as measured by a patient's likelihood to recommend a hospital to friends and family. Those measures include doctor communication, nurse communication and clear communication about care during hospital discharge.
According to Alana Biggers, M.D., medical advisor at Healthgrades, the findings about patient communication weren't all too surprising.
"I'm an internist by training, so I've done both inpatient and outpatient medicine, and I will say the communication piece is just crucial," Biggers said in a call ahead of the award release. "Building that rapport with patients, building that trust that you have with patients, that's one benefit. The other part of it is just really the ability to reduce medical errors."
Patient safety and patient experience go hand in hand, and most experts agree that clear, empathetic communication supports both. But good communication is much easier said than done. Appointment slots are short, so it's hard to build the trust necessary to have open conversations with patients and truly dig deep.
Mix in documentation requirements and other administrative tasks, and it can be challenging for clinicians to have the meaningful conversations that can help flag medical errors and leave patients feeling seen and heard.
According to Biggers, there are changes both hospital leadership and clinicians alike can make to deepen patient-provider communication. In doing so, organizations can build rapport with patients, drive patient loyalty and ideally yield better clinical outcomes.
Team-based care opens opportunities for patient communication
Fundamentally, healthcare providers don't get enough time to connect with patients during appointments, Biggers said.
"If I have a 20-minute visit and half the time is spent getting vitals and getting the patient ready for the room, that means I only have 10 minutes with them," she explained. "If they have a lot of medical issues, we have to pick and choose which issues to address."
It's not always feasible for hospitals and clinics to simply make appointments longer. Healthcare is a tight-margin business, and getting patients in the door is how to keep revenue flowing.
But there are ways hospitals and clinics can use their resources more judiciously, especially by way of team-based care, Biggers recommended. Other medical professionals, such as medical assistants, nurses, social workers and community health workers, can work at the top of their license to take vitals, conduct follow-up with patients and otherwise be an advocate for the patient during clinical encounters.
It's not just about making opportunities for patient-provider communication. Biggers also said the quality of communication, defined by how well it accommodates patient health literacy levels, is important. Health systems have a role to play in this.
For example, health systems can implement health literacy screening programs, thereby giving clinicians the information they need to tailor communication with patients. Additionally, health systems might consider an audit to ensure all patient-facing communications -- clinic signage, educational materials and even billing or administrative materials -- take into account variable health literacy levels.
Clinician skills to support communication
Of course, clinicians can't rely too much on their organization leaders to implement team-based care systems or otherwise create more time for patient-provider communication. These changes are difficult, time-consuming and costly, so Biggers suggested that clinicians look into key patient-provider communication skills to deepen their relationships.
Strategies like patient teach-back and shared decision-making can help clinicians make the most of the time they do have with patients and ensure communication and care instructions are clear.
Additionally, clinicians should assure patients that it's okay to ask questions and encourage them to share during healthcare encounters.
In fact, not doing so could carry consequences, Biggers said, and they extend beyond a good online review. When communication is unclear, patients might not know how to care for themselves after discharge, or a clinician might miss a key symptom that influences treatment protocol.
"Communication is key not just to the patient experience, but also to patient safety," Biggers concluded. "This is not just about consumer ratings. This is about making sure that we minimize medical errors and that patients are getting all that they need after the care that they receive."
Sara Heath has reported news related to patient engagement and health equity since 2015.