In good health

Virginia’s patient satisfaction rate held steady in a recently released nationwide survey, but just three hospitals in the commonwealth received the highest marks. Overall, Virginia patient satisfaction trails the national average by just 2%.

The patient satisfaction scores come from the annual Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems conducted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

The Virginia results of the latest survey are shown on Pages 42-43. It’s important to note that the survey was conducted in 2019, assessing patient satisfaction prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The results are provided by Virginia Health Information, a Richmond-based nonprofit organization offering an array of data on hospitals, nursing facilities, physicians and health insurers in the commonwealth.

In addition to the patient satisfaction survey, VHI annually provides Virginia Business with service line reports showing patient discharge volume by region for a wide variety of hospital procedures.

The national satisfaction survey asks patients two questions:

How do they rate their hospitals overall?

And would they recommend the hospital to friends and family?

The highest ratings in answer to the first question are 9 or 10 on a 10-point scale. The highest recommendation in response to the second question is: “Yes, definitely.”

In answering both questions in 2019, 80% or more of respondents gave top ratings to three of 82 Virginia acute-care hospitals: Carilion Giles Community Hospital in Pearisburg, Inova Fairfax Hospital in Falls Church and Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington. Carilion Giles Community Hospital and Virginia Hospital Center also received top marks in the 2016, 2017 and 2018 surveys.

Additionally, another five hospitals scored 80% or better on one of the two questions in the 2019 survey: Inova Fair Oaks Hospital in Fairfax, Riverside Shore Memorial Hospital in Onancock, Sentara Leigh Hospital in Norfolk, Smyth Community Hospital in Marion and University of Virginia Medical Center in Charlottesville.

The Virginia average percentages for top ratings in the latest survey were 71% for the first question (unchanged from the 2018 survey) and 70% for the second question (also unchanged from the previous year). The national averages for the 2019 survey were 73% for the first question and 72% percent for the second.

In the 2019 survey, data was unavailable from four hospitals, and an insufficient number of patients took the survey at four other facilities.

The service line reports on Pages 44-50 show consumers which hospitals are the market leaders in their regions in terms of patient discharges for a variety of procedures. VHI suggests that patients seek additional information about their options and needs from health care providers. Not all hospitals provide the same types of care.

VHI also publishes regional and statewide costs for dozens of services to help consumers compare expected costs. These and other details about Virginia hospitals.