Arkansas Heart Hospital has once again been awarded the prestigious Five-Star Overall Hospital rating by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Arkansas Heart Hospital is one of 405 hospitals nationwide to receive this distinction and is the only hospital in the state to receive it for two consecutive years. The hospital has also been named one of the nation’s top 22 patient-recommended hospitals, one of only two in Arkansas.
“We are honored by these designations,” said Dr. Bruce Murphy, CEO of Arkansas Heart Hospital. “We strive to treat our patients like family from the moment they walk in the door. This distinction is not possible without the dedication, commitment, and hard work of our staff and physicians. Every department, every employee is essential to our organization. Our mission is to provide extraordinary service, and this honor confirms that commitment.”
CMS provides the rankings for hospitals across the country. The figures to determine top patient-recommended hospitals come from CMS’ Hospital Compare website and represent HCAHPS scores collected from April 2018 through March 2019. The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey of patients’ perspectives of hospital care. HCAHPS (pronounced “H-caps”) is a survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients’ perceptions of their hospital experience.
While many hospitals have collected information on patient satisfaction for their own internal use, until HCAHPS, there was no national standard for collecting and publicly reporting information about patient experience of care that allowed valid comparisons to be made across hospitals locally, regionally, and nationally. For this top 22 ranking, at least 93% of patients at these 22 hospitals responded, “Yes, I would definitely recommend the hospital.”