Fresno Heart & Surgical gets top patient experience rating again

Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital prides itself on treating patients to a luxury hotel experience in a hospital setting. The hospital’s restaurant quality food draws in neighboring business people for lunch. Its rooms feature carpeting, drapes and decorative lamps. Tropical plants and small trees decorate hallways. And the staff focus is on service and courtesy.

It’s an atmosphere – and experience – that patients remember and appreciate, according to HealthGrades, the nation’s leading independent health care ratings organization. For the second year in a row, Fresno Heart & Surgical Hospital has been named among the nation’s top 5% in patient experience by HealthGrades. Only two other hospitals in California have achieved a similar distinction.

Stephanie Cole, a registered nurse at Fresno Heart & Surgical, was recently featured on MedWatch the TV show as a Health Care Hero.

The 2009-2010 Outstanding Patient Experience Award was based on patient survey data collected as part of the federal government’s Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, or HCAHPS.

“We are quite proud of this accomplishment that rewards the dedication of our hospital staff and the medical staff,” said Wanda Holderman, the hospital’s CEO.

One visitor summed up what he observed during his mother-in-law’s stay in a note to her caregivers: "My family had a wonderful, caring, professional experience at your hospital last week…Every encounter was thoughtful, but also personal, motivational and insightful in terms of how nurses used their own skills and personality to encourage/inform my mother-in-law in her recovery.  Thanks again."

The federal HCAHPS initiative gathers patient responses to 27 survey questions related to physician and nurse communication, speed of responsiveness, hospital cleanliness and noise levels, medication information, pain management and post-discharge care instructions. The survey is designed to collect data so health consumers can make objective and meaningful comparisons among hospitals on issues that are important to patients. The first public reporting of HCAHPS results was in March 2008.

An analysis of similar data earned Fresno Heart & Surgical California’s Cleanest Hospital designation in 2008, placing it among the top 7% of cleanest hospitals in the nation. Tim Santos, the hospital’s housekeeping manager, said he knows patients notice his staff’s efforts.

“Whenever I go out in public in my hospital scrubs, people stop me and tell me about their experience and they say, ‘The hospital is so beautiful and clean.’ I always get that tag ‘and so clean.’”

To determine the recipients of the HealthGrades Outstanding Patient Experience Award, HealthGrades analyzed HCAHPS survey results covering June 2007 to 2008 for 3,000 hospitals nationwide. Hospitals had to meet bed size, survey size and clinical-quality thresholds to be considered for the award.

“Patients listen to each other when it comes to recommending a physician or hospital. This study takes thousands of patient experience surveys and compiles them into one easy to understand rating,” said Dr. Rick May, HealthGrades’ senior physician consultant.

Fresno Heart & Surgical has also been recognized for its clinical excellence and was named “best in the region for cardiac services” two years in a row, with 5-star ratings from HealthGrades in cardiac bypass surgery in 2007 and for treatment of heart attacks in both 2007 and 2008.

This story was reported by Erin Kennedy. She can be reached at ekennedy@communitymedical.org.

Tuesday, June 02, 2009