New Year, New HCAHPS,
New Focus on PX
Key Takeaways to Help Your Hospital Improve HCAHPS and Patient Experience
Reading time: 4 minutes
The Updated Questions
Removed: During this hospital stay, after you pressed the call button, how often did you get help
as soon as you wanted it?
Replaced with: During this hospital stay, when you asked for help right away, how often did you
get help as soon as you needed?
The takeaway: You can read more about supporting your call light responsiveness here. Then,
have a plan to support patients who ask for help in ways other than pressing a call button, like
asking a nurse or other hospital staff. Optimize staffing ratios and workflow efficiency to help your staff
help patients quickly when they need it.
Removed: During this hospital stay, staff took my preferences and those of my family or caregiver into account in deciding what my health care needs would be when I left.
Replaced with: Did doctors, nurses, or other hospital staff work with you and your family or caregiver in making plans for your care after you left the hospital?
The takeaway: This change acknowledges the role of patients and their caregivers as key players in the care journey. Patient engagement has always supported healing and better outcomes. Prioritize patient engagement by sharing decision-making and using clear education to keep patients informed and included.
Removed: When I left the hospital, I had a good understanding of the things I was responsible for in managing my health.
Replaced with: Did doctors, nurses, or other hospital staff give your family or caregiver enough information about what symptoms or health problems to watch for after you left the hospital?
The takeaway: This change highlights the importance of helping patients act fast to identify and address complications after discharge. To help ensure good outcomes, care teams should continue educating their patients about how to manage their health and ensure patients understand critical warning signs and what to do if they arise.
Removed: During this hospital stay, were you admitted to this hospital through the Emergency Room?
Replaced with: Was this hospital stay planned in advance?
The takeaway: Not all unplanned admissions come through the Emergency Room. For example, patients may be sent over as a direct admission from their doctor’s office. This survey question change should result in more accurate data when tracking unplanned admissions.
Removed: When I left the hospital, I clearly understood the purpose for taking each of my medications.
This question was removed without a replacement. However, three questions addressing new medication for the patient — due to their hospitalization — remain on the survey.
The takeaway: While patients still need to understand all their medications, hospital teaching is now evaluated based on medications that are new to the patient due to their hospitalization. Before they leave the hospital, be sure your patients understand their new medications: what they are, what they treat, and how to use them.
How We Can Help: Our Patient Guides contain a Medication Tracker for patients to write down all the information about their existing and new medications. Request a sample guide here.
The healthcare landscape is constantly evolving, so it’s not surprising that CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) is changing the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey to modernize it for 2025.
While five questions have been removed from the survey, eight new ones have been added. The new questions focus on topics like restfulness while in the hospital, coordination of care, getting timely help, and receiving adequate information about health issues and symptoms to watch for after leaving the hospital.
These new questions seem to underscore the growing focus on patient experience in the healthcare industry. So, how can your hospital align with these changes to deliver exceptional patient experience and improve your HCAHPS scores? Let’s dig in.
The New Questions
Two questions pertaining to rest for recovery were added to the 2025 survey:
During this hospital stay, how often were you able to get the rest you needed?
During this hospital stay, did doctors, nurses and other hospital staff help you to rest and recover?
The takeaway: Inadequate sleep is associated with negative health care outcomes, yet hospitalized patients sleep about 90 minutes less than they do at home. Help patients rest by clustering care activities when possible, educating patients on sleep strategies, or providing earplugs. You can get more ideas in our Patient Resource Library article, Sleep for Rest and Recovery.
Another new survey question focuses on understanding the patient’s care plan:
During this hospital stay, how often were doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff informed and up-to-date about your care?
The takeaway: Teams must stay updated on the plan of care to provide the best patient care and outcomes. Allow adequate time for chart review to help caregivers stay informed. Scheduled rounding with whiteboard updates can help everyone keep track of a patient’s progress.
The final new question focuses on care coordination:
During this hospital stay, how often did doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff work well together to care for you?
The takeaway: To encourage care teamwork, use structured communication, such as interdisciplinary rounds and care conferences. Clear communication is critical for patient safety and can help maximize your specialists’ expertise.
Embracing Change
Upcoming changes to the HCAHPS survey reflect new priorities in understanding the patient experience. Embracing these changes with process shifts can help improve your HCAHPS scores, reimbursement, Hospital Compare positioning, and refine your culture of patient-centered care.
Patient Guide Solutions can help with patient engagement guides that support and complement your work. If your hospital doesn’t already have our Patient Engagement Guides, please get in touch! Click here to get your sample guide.
Additional Reading: For a comprehensive comparison between the old and new HCAHPS surveys, HCAHPS online has provided this helpful crosswalk.