Piedmont Fayette Hospital Among Top Atlanta Hospitals in Patient Satisfaction

In the first national, standardized, publicly-reported survey of patient satisfaction, Piedmont Fayette Hospital ranked third of 38 hospitals in the Atlanta market. Piedmont Hospital ranked first, and Piedmont Mountainside Hospital was fourth among all greater Atlanta hospitals participating.

HCAHPS, Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, is a standardized survey that reflects a patient’s perspective of hospital care, and data is posted quarterly on the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Compare website, at www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov.

Nationwide, 63% of patients gave their hospital experience an Overall Rating of 9 or 10, and 67% on Willingness to Recommend. Georgians ranked the average hospital at 65% for Overall Rating and 68% on Willingness to Recommend. Piedmont Fayette Hospital’s Overall Rating was 73%, and its Willingness to Recommend score was 79%.

"Assuring that our patients receive the best in quality and service is a top priority for Piedmont Fayette Hospital," said Darrell Cutts, president and CEO of Piedmont Fayette Hospital. "We continually conduct our own patient satisfaction surveys and listen to our patients. The high rankings on the independent HCAHPS survey are a testament to the employees at Piedmont Fayette, who set the bar very high in achieving patient satisfaction."

The HCAHPS survey was created with three primary goals. First, the survey was designed to produce data about patients' perspectives of care that allow comparisons of hospitals on topics that are important to consumers. Second, public reporting of the survey results creates new incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care. Third, public reporting serves to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment.

The survey asks a random sample of patients from over 2,500 U.S. hospitals 27 questions about their hospital experience, including 18 items about key aspects of the hospital experience including communication with nurses and doctors, the responsiveness of hospital staff, cleanliness and quietness of hospital environment, pain management, communication about medicines, discharge information, overall rating of hospital and recommendation of hospital.

“We know that patients have many choices in where they receive healthcare services in greater Atlanta. At Piedmont Healthcare hospitals, our employees have made a promise to reinforce their personal commitment in delivering best-in-class care,” said R. Timothy Stack, president and CEO of Piedmont Healthcare. “While this is only one snapshot of patient ratings from October 2006 to June 2007 and we consistently work to improve, we are proud of how our Piedmont hospitals compared to others.”