New Patient Care Assessment Addresses Health Care Reform Through Workers' Behavior
Talent measurement solution targets hospital survey results to improve patient care
Atlanta, GA (PRWEB) September 24, 2009
While the nation debates the options and costs for health care reform, one need remains clear: the need for quality patient care. Health care organizations are well aware that their reputation for quality and patient satisfaction drives consumer choice. To aid consumers in selecting a provider, the government created the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey, the results of which are publicly available to both patients and insurers. Hospitals are now being held accountable for their customer service track record in a very public forum.
The new PreVisor CARE Patient Care Assessment is targeted specifically at the behaviors that drive HCAHPS survey (http://www. hcahpsonline. org/home. aspx) results. PreVisor, the global leader in employment assessments (http://www. previsor. com/results) and talent measurement solutions that connect employment decisions to business results, created CARE utilizing a combination of technologically advanced assessment tools that identify employees' strengths and developmental needs relative to improving HCAHPS survey results. This information can be used as a leading indicator of future HCAHPS results and will help target areas for quality improvement and patient satisfaction initiatives among any staff who deliver patient care.
In addition to helping patients and insurance companies compare providers, the results of the HCAHPS survey are used to determine Medicare and Medicaid payments and will increasingly be used as benchmarks to evaluate health care provider organizations. Health care employees providing service directly to patients are the critical driver of these results.
"We know that health care providers are concerned about improving patient care not only from the ethical aspects, but because the quality of patient care directly impacts the bottom line, both in terms of choices that patients have and in the form of reimbursement incentives from the federal government that are related to formal patient satisfaction measures," stated Dr. Ken Lahti, Director of product strategy and development at PreVisor. "Because employees of health care organizations are the primary drivers of the patient care experience, talent measurement practices can be a useful tool for improving patient care."
The CARE assessment can be used at all levels of a health care organization to provide data for a wide range of activities and patient care initiatives. For example, results of this assessment can inform discussions around individual level development goals that might be designed to improve patient satisfaction. At a department or organizational level, this assessment can provide important benchmarks and comparisons on the behaviors potentially influencing HCAHPS results. This information could also be used to tailor or fine-tune training and development programs to target those performance behaviors that will have the greatest likelihood of driving up patient satisfaction.
As a patient satisfaction measure, the HCAHPS survey focuses primarily on courtesy, effective communication, responsiveness to patient needs, creating a pleasant environment, pain management, and discharge from care preparations. PreVisor's CARE assessment was designed specifically to match areas covered by the HCAHPS survey. Reports from the system include written information and feedback on eight important and highly relevant competencies linked to patient care performance.
For a product demonstration, call: 1-800-367-2509 or visit http://www. previsor. com/contact/request (http://www. previsor. com/contact/request) to request additional information.
About the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA)
In December 2002, the American Hospital Association (AHA), Federation of American Hospitals (FAH), and Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) launched the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), a national public-private collaboration to encourage hospitals to voluntarily collect and report hospital quality performance information. This effort is intended to make important information about hospital performance accessible to the public and to inform and invigorate efforts to improve quality. More information is available at: HHG. gov (http://www. hospitalcompare. hhs. gov/Hospital).
About PreVisor
PreVisor, the leading global provider of on demand employment assessments and talent measurement solutions, helps clients connect employment decisions to business results. Following the rigorous standards of industrial-organizational psychology, PreVisor's assessment content accurately predicts on-the-job performance and supports fair hiring practices. PreVisor's solutions help streamline hiring, reduce recruiting and training costs, and improve corporate performance for clients worldwide, including more than 100 of the Fortune 500. http://www. previsor. com (http://www. previsor. com)
Media contact:
Donna Lehman
MarketUP
Office: 770-565-7275
Mobile: 770-362-9287
# # #
