To ensure that we provide the highest quality care and continually improve your hospital stay, we rely on valuable data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey.
This page is designed to help you better understand what HCAHPS data is about, why it matters to you, and how it shapes the care you receive during your hospital stay.
We believe that informed patients make better choices, and by sharing this information, we aim to empower you to take an active role in your healthcare journey. See how Penn Medicine performs on the HCAHPS survey.
Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS)
HCAHPS is a standardized, publicly reported survey of hospital care across the United States. HCAHPS collects feedback from patients about their hospital experiences and reports on the data four times each year.
The HCAHPS survey measures patient perspectives on several experience factors, including:
- communication with nurses and doctors
- staff responsiveness
- the hospital’s cleanliness and quietness
- communication about medicines
- discharge information
- overall rating of the hospital
- whether they would recommend the hospital
Patient responses are submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which reports the results each year from all U.S. hospitals at Care Compare.
Why is the HCAHPS survey important?
The HCAHPS survey is important because it empowers patients to have a voice in their healthcare, incentivizes healthcare providers to deliver high-quality care, and serves as a valuable tool for driving continuous improvement.
Patients and their families can use HCAHPS data to directly compare hospitals locally and nationally and better make decisions on where they choose to receive care.
How Penn Medicine uses HCAHPS data
HCAHPS results are just one way to make sure our patients and their families have a positive experience in our health system. Penn Medicine uses HCAHPS data in the following ways to improve patient care and satisfaction:
Quality assessment
HCAHPS data provides valuable insights into the quality of care and services provided at Penn Medicine. By analyzing the survey results, we can identify areas where we excel and areas that we can improve.
Patient-centered care
The data helps us understand the patient's perspective and experience. This patient-centered approach allows us to tailor services to better meet the needs and preferences of our patients.
Performance benchmarking
We use our HCAHPS scores to compare our hospitals against national and regional benchmarks. We can see how we perform related to other health care providers in our region – and beyond.
Quality improvement
HCAHPS data helps us identify areas where we can improve, including in places where we may need additional training or support. For example, if communication scores are lower than we would like, we would create additional training for staff to enhance communication with patients.
Transparency
Sharing HCAHPS scores and other information that is related to patient safety, quality and care, demonstrates our commitment to transparency. It helps patients make informed decisions about their healthcare and promotes accountability for our health system.
How does Penn Medicine perform?
As a health system, Penn Medicine consistently performs better than the average score from the Press Ganey database. More than more than 2,500 U.S. hospitals are part of the database and participate in HCAHPS surveys.
Use the drop down menu to see how each of Penn Medicine’s six hospitals performs over the past three years.
Chester County Hospital
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania
Lancaster General Hospital
Penn Medicine
Penn Medicine Princeton Medical Center
Penn Presbyterian Medical Center
Pennsylvania Hospital
Penn Medicine
Percent of respondents who rated the hospital a "9" or "10" out of 10 
Percent of respondents who said they would "definitely" recommend the hospital
Percent of respondents who said their doctor “always” listened
Percent of respondents who said their nurse “always” listened