Almost one year ago, Curry Health Network – including its flagship Curry General Hospital and clinics in Gold Beach, Brookings, and Port Orford – began a journey to service excellence through the implementation of a multi-year strategy that includes not only quality and service, but engaging, developing and empowering their staff and improving processes. Evidence of its progress was recently received when the hospital was notified its federally determined “star rating” for experiences of hospitalized patients increased from three stars to four stars.
“We realize that it is not enough to deliver safe and quality health care, but we must also understand the patient’s perception of customer service and exceed their expectations. The patient’s experience begins with the very first contact and every employee of Curry Health Network is committed to delivering exceptional care and service to our patients,” says CEO, Ginny Razo.
That strategy is working, and while cultural change and process improvement is admittedly not easily accomplished, nor accomplished quickly, Razo says that positive changes are palpable and are being recognized by patients. “Service excellence is now becoming ‘the way we do things around here’.”
Curry General Hospital’s 4-Star Patient Experience rating is based on the most recent (4th quarter 2017 through 3rd quarter 2018) Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) surveys, which is a strictly-defined patient satisfaction survey by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Although critical access hospitals are not required to participate, Curry Health Network understands the importance to voluntarily participate with HCAHPS. The survey is administered by an independent third-party that asks patients to rate their experience during their hospital stay on a scale of 1-10 for a variety of criteria, with results reported under the Medicare Beneficiary Quality Improvement Project (MBQIP).
Curry General topped both state and national averages in several categories including communication with nurses, the responsiveness of hospital staff, communication about medicines, cleanliness of the hospital environment, the quietness of the hospital environment, an overall rating of the hospital, and willingness to recommend the hospital. Responsiveness of hospital staff received 5-stars with a resounding 87% of patients saying the staff was “always” responsive whereas the state average was 72% and the national average 70%. Additionally, 77% of Curry General’s patients said they would “definitely recommend the hospital” when the state and national averages were 74% and 72%, respectively.
“We are dedicated to continue our journey to service excellence and all of us at Curry Health Network – beginning with the Board of Directors, to administration, to management, and especially our caregivers and front-line staff – are firmly committed to continue on that path until we become the ‘Provider and Employer of Choice’,” Razo stated. “Excellent service is an experience that our hospital and clinic patients and visitors deserve, and we are working hard to deliver. Our goal is to provide a 5-Star patient experience to each and every patient, 100 percent of the time.”
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