Focusing only on improving patient experience by raising your HCAHPS’ scores is like trying to win the decathlon by only focusing on improving your high jumping.

With all of the focus on HCAHPS’ 27 questions, Press Ganey surveys and The Studer Group’s coaching, I thought I would create my own 27 questions.  You decide which list is more relevant—perhaps both are.

Is your hospital equipped to increase patient satisfaction, retain patients, and attract new patients?  If it is your hospital should be able to answer these twenty-seven questions.

1. What are your hospital’s patient touchpoints before, during, and after hospitalization
2. Which patient touchpoints are most frequented
3. Which patient touchpoints have the greatest impact on the Total Quality of the Patient’s Encounter (TQE)
4. What percentage of your hospital’s patients does it retain
5. What percentage of your hospital’s patients refer other patients
6. What is the ROI of a patient over thirty years
7. What is the ROI of a patient’s family
8. Do more people visit your hospital’s website every day than visit your hospital
9. Did your hospital spend more money to make a favorable impression on the hospital’s lobby than on the hospital’s website
10. What percentage of people call your hospital that you never hear from again
11. What percentage of people visit your website that you never hear from again
12. How does the hospital know what the hospital’s patients expect
13. Does the hospital have an effective definition of TQE for its health system
14. Why did the hospital’s patients choose your hospital
15. Why did prospective patients choose a different hospital
16. Why did patients choose not to return to your hospital
17. What could the hospital change to create ‘patients for life’
18. Do people who call the hospital receive a remarkable experience every time they call
19. What is being said about your hospital on the internet
20. What touchpoints should the hospital be benchmarking regarding TQE
21. Does the hospital’s website allow people to accomplish what they want, how do you know
22. What is the ROI of the hospital’s business development and sales and marketing group
23. What are the top three things your hospital could do to improve family experience
24. Are patients able to accomplish every task online that they could accomplish if they came to the hospital
25. Can patients accomplish these same tasks at any time on any device?
26. Who designed the hospital’s patient experience strategy, the hospital or the patients
27. What would your patients change to improve TQE