Use HCAHPS as a motivator to reenergize your five-star program, and make it personal.

For many reasons, HCAHPS, short for Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, is quickly becoming the national standard on evaluating patient experience. This article shows the aligned incentives of hospitals and physicians to enhance patient perceptions of their care experience, provides an overview of the HCAHPS concept for physicians, and discusses using HCAHPS as an opportunity to further individual and group practice five-star goals. The current healthcare environment, with its focus on quality and outcomes and patient perception, provides an incentive for physicians and other healthcare professionals to make five-star service personal.