Recent research, as documented in the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care’s June 2025 issue, offers valuable insights into various strategies that could potentially enhance the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) scores. This retrospective study systematically reviewed the literature released in the past 5 years to pinpoint the factors influencing HCAHPS scores.
The researchers performed a comprehensive review of English language articles published from 2019 to 2023 in databases such as EMBASE, PubMed, and Ovid Medline. Studies that were chosen for review were particularly those that centered around interventions deployed to improve patient satisfaction. The researchers used specific key search terms including ‘Patient satisfaction’, ‘HCAHPS’, ‘Intervention’, ‘Survey’, ‘Database’, ‘Communication’ and ‘Implementation’.
The outcomes of this comprehensive survey identified that there were seven core factors that significantly influenced HCAHPS scores. Hospital infection prevention protocols were related to declining patient satisfaction whereas the geographical assignment showed no significant effect on patient satisfaction. Interestingly, it was noted that effective and efficient communication between physicians and patients played a critical role in influencing patient satisfaction.
Further, implementation of training models such as ‘Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, Thank You’ could tangibly improve patient satisfaction. Overcoming language barriers were also seen to be a significant factor to enhance satisfaction, particularly for individuals with limited English proficiency. Moreover, the involvement of medical residents had a somewhat inconsistent impact on patient satisfaction levels. It was observed that older adults reported less positive experiences, particularly in terms of communication.
Ultimately, the research concluded that a dynamic range of interventions could amplify patient satisfaction scores. However, additional research is necessary to further validate and substantiate these findings.
Source: https://www.physiciansweekly.com/interventions-influencing-patient-satisfaction-in-hospitals/