Many RHI Patient Satisfaction Scores Rank Among Nation’s Best

A study of its 2008 patient satisfaction results reveals that Rutherford Hospital Inc. (RHI) had 13 units or departments whose overall scores ranked among the best in the nation. Overall scores reflect patient opinions of services including registration, rooms and meals, tests and treatments, experiences with physicians and nurses, how well visitors and family were treated, discharge process, and personal issues.

RHI surveys and benchmarks patient satisfaction in five major service areas with the assistance of Press Ganey Associates of South Bend, IN:

Surgery
Emergency Services
Inpatient
Outpatient Tests and Treatments
Medical Practices
Home Health

Patient satisfaction scores are compared against peer hospitals across the nation. Scores are then reported in percentiles, meaning that a score in the 90th percentile, for example, is defined as a score that is higher than 90 percent of all other hospitals in that peer group.

Among the high-ranking surgical specialties are: orthopedics (98th percentile), urology (98th percentile), plastic surgery (99th percentile),  and endoscopy (94th percentile). These rankings apply to the peer group of hospitals performing 5,000 or less surgeries per year.

Among inpatient specialties, RHI’s 4th Surgical floor ranked in the 98th percentile, obstetrics ranked in the 90th percentile, and gynecology ranked in the 99th percentile among all other similar units in hospitals with less than 150 licensed beds. Several outpatient specialties scored in the 99th percentile nationally among hospitals performing 45,000-55,000 procedures per year: mammography, CT Scan, nuclear medicine, and cardiac rehab.

Two RHI medical practices – James Medical Clinic and Insights Psychiatric Services – ranked in the 98th and 99th percentiles respectively among similarly sized practices nationally.

“First, I’m extremely proud of our employees,” said David Bixler, RHI President and CEO. “To stack your results up against national competition and come out among the elite is a tremendous testimony to the dedication and professionalism of our staff. And, we are excited that these numbers don’t just apply to 2008. For example, in our current fiscal year we have learned that our environmental services and food/nutrition teams are also scoring in the 95th percentile or higher over the last three months.”

He added, “Second, I’m excited for our community to see that a very high level of healthcare is delivered right here in Rutherford County. Not only can we say that we will meet your needs, but we can say we’ll do it compassionately and with customer service as our focus. These results come directly from patients filling out surveys about our service, and we’re honored to be rated so highly.”

Abby Szklarek, spokesperson for Press Ganey Associates, said, “Rutherford Hospital has been a client since 2005 and has consistently shown a willingness to implement strategic ideas to make patient satisfaction an organizational priority. RHI should be commended for putting patient satisfaction first.”