Patient Satisfaction Surveys and Physician Ratings

At University Hospitals, we believe in providing patients with all the information they need to make educated decisions about their health care and to choose the right doctor to meet their needs. That is why we partner with the independent patient satisfaction company Press Ganey to survey patients about their experiences at UH facilities and with UH physicians. We hold ourselves to the highest standard of care and are dedicated to creating a positive patient experience for every individual who sees a UH doctor.

Press Ganey has been a leader in health care patient satisfaction for more than 25 years. Press Ganey works with more than 10,000 health care organizations nationwide, including 50 percent of all U.S. hospitals, to improve clinical and business outcomes.

About the Survey

Patients treated by UH physicians are invited to complete surveys. Surveys are offered by mail or email and give patients the chance to provide feedback about their experience with their physician.

Patients are invited to complete surveys based upon their hospital stay or office visit. Parents of hospitalized pediatric patients also receive a separate survey from Press Ganey. The surveys ask patients or parents to evaluate how well their physician communicated, listened and showed courtesy and respect toward them. Results are used to evaluate the overall experience of the patient and to identify areas for improvement.

Questions asked include:

• Did this provider explain things in a way that was easy to understand?
• Did this provider listen carefully to you?
• Did this provider give you easy to understand instructions about taking care of these health problems or concerns?
• Did this provider seem to know the important information about your medical history?
• Did this provider show respect for what you had to say?
• Did this provider spend enough time with you?

Only patients seen by a UH physician may be selected to take a survey. This way we can confirm the results are based only on patients who have actually been treated by the physician.

How We Use the Survey Responses

We share the survey results and patient comments on the UH website to benefit both patients and physicians. Our physicians also receive their patient ratings and are asked to continually monitor their patients’ feedback and ratings.

About Physician Ratings and Patient Comments

Star ratings are based from patient responses to six questions about care from their physician. For each physician, ratings from their patients are averaged together to form a single star rating. We post both positive and negative comments from the surveys. We do not post comments that are libelous, profane, irrelevant, inappropriate, or comments that may violate patient privacy.

The more ratings a physician receives increases the accuracy and reliability of the results. A physician’s rating will only be posted on the site providing he/she has a minimum of 30 completed surveys.

Why Post Comments?

At UH, we look to the physician-patient relationship as one of the most crucial elements of care. A strong relationship between patient and doctor creates trust, satisfaction and leads to better outcomes. By providing patient feedback about physicians we can allow each patient to seek a physician who has the qualities that are important to them, not only regarding professional expertise and experience, but also at a personal level.

Patients want to be more involved in their care, and giving them what they need to make informed choices can help them achieve this goal.

Patient Information Protection

Patient names are not displayed through the online ratings and comments, and personally identifiable information is removed prior to display. In addition, all patient survey responses are stored on a password protected server within UH with access limited to select personnel.