How can hospitals improve patient experience?

Challenge

Most hospital systems are focused on getting the information they need to improve the overall patient experience on an ongoing basis. To inspire, support, and guide health systems in embracing their skills to transform the design, quality, and performance of care delivery by connecting them with peers, evidence-based practices, and data, an innovative approach was needed.

The Premier healthcare alliance, using the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey data and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Premier Hospital Quality Incentive Demonstration (HQID), developed the QUEST® program. Westat supports the program.

With hospitals across 37 states, the QUEST Quality Improvement Collaborative is one of the most comprehensive improvement programs in the nation. The program is fully aligned with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) National Quality Strategy to provide better, more affordable care for individuals and the community.

QUEST participants share acute, ambulatory, and community health data to set national standards for care delivery improvement. The program aims to drive improvement across 6 priority areas: safety, communication and care coordination, affordable care, person and family experience, health and well-being, and prevention and treatment.

Solution

Westat supports the Premier QUEST program through our proprietary survey data collection and data validation systems, and also conducting data cleaning, case-mix adjustment, data analysis, and technical support, as well as reporting on results.

Results

QUEST’s approximately 350 hospitals saved approximately 176,000 lives and $15 billion, improved readmission rates by 32% since 2010, and proved they outperform non-QUEST hospitals in mortality.

QUEST was nationally recognized by the Joint Commission and the National Quality Forum for improving patient safety and health care quality.