Contacts:
ScottSmith,MDHCommunications
[email protected],651‐201‐5806
ErinGhere,MNCMCommunications
[email protected],612‐454‐4827
2015PatientExperienceofCareSurveyResultsOverview
GeneralInformation
 ThePatientExperienceofCareSurveyresultsarecompiledbyMNCommunity
MeasurementfortheMinnesotaDepartmentofHealth’sStatewideQualityReportingand
MeasurementSystem.
 TheinauguralreleaseofPatientExperienceofCaresurveyresultsoccurredin2013.Itis
conductedeveryotheryear.
 Minnesotahasthenation’slargeststatewidesurveyaboutpatients’experienceofcare.At
leastfourotherstatesconductwidespreadpatientexperiencesurveys;however,
Minnesota’shasthelargestnumberofpatientsinvolved.
Survey
TheCAHPSClinician&Group®12‐MonthSurvey2.0(CG‐CAHPS®)isusedtoevaluatethepatient
experienceofcareinMinnesotaandsurroundingareas.Thesurveyincludesquestionsabout
patients’experienceswiththeirhealthcareprovidersduringthepast12months.
The2013surveyutilizedtheCG‐CAHPS®VisitSurvey,whichfocusedonthepatient’sexperience
duringtheirmostrecentvisittotheclinic.The12‐MonthSurveyusedin2015focusesonthe
patient’sexperiencesacrossalloftheirvisitstotheclinicduringthepastyear.Inmovingtothe12‐
MonthSurvey,questionsintheProviderCommunicationandOfficeStaffdomainsshiftedfroma
three‐pointtoafour‐pointscale(i.e.,“Always,”“Usually,”“Sometimes”and“Never”).Asaresult,
thosetwodomainsarenotcomparablebetween2013and2015.
DataCollection
Toensureunbiasedresults,clinicswererequiredtouseanexternalsurveyvendortoadministerto
theCG‐CAHPS®12‐MonthSurvey.VendorshadtobeapprovedbytheCentersforMedicare&
MedicaidServices.
Clinicsgeneratedandsubmittedlistsofalleligiblevisitstotheexternalsurveyvendors.Thecriteria
foraneligiblevisitincluded:
 OccurredbetweenSeptember1andNovember30,2014
 Visitwasanin‐person,face‐to‐faceencounterbetweenapatientandaphysician,advanced
practicenurseand/orphysicianassistant
 Patientwas18yearsorolderandspokeEnglishatthetimeofthevisit
Toavoidduplicatingpatientswithmultiplevisitsduringthetimeperiod,surveyvendorsselected
themostrecentvisitforeachpatientandcreatedarandomsampleofpatientsforeachclinic.The
numberofpatientsineachrandomsamplewasbasedonthesizeoftheclinic.Thenumberof
ReleasedAugust26,2015
providersintheclinicwasusedasaproxyforsize.Clinicswithfewerthan450patientswere
removedfromthesurvey.
Patientsinthesamplereceivedasurveybyeithermailorphone.
 Mail–Tworoundsofdistribution
 Phone–Sixattemptsondifferentdaysandatdifferenttimes
Oncesurveyingwascomplete,resultsweresubmittedtoMNCMbythesurveyvendorsviathe
MNCMDataPortal.MNCMconductedaseriesofqualitycheckspriortothedatabeinganalyzed.As
partoftheanalysis,theresultswerecase‐mixadjustedforpatientage,self‐reportedhealthstatus
andeducationlevel.InadditiontobeingpubliclyreportedonMNHealthScores.org,thefinalresults
areaddedtothenationalCAHPSDatabase,whichisusedtofacilitatecomparisonsofpatient
experienceacrossstatesandpatientgroups.
Participation
Surveysweresenttomorethan650,000patientswhohadatleastoneeligiblevisitbetween
September1andNovember30,2014.
 200,500patientscompletedandreturnedsurveys,resultingina33percentresponserate
 Theresponseratewasconsistentbetween2013and2015
Approximately73percentofclinicsinMinnesotaandneighboringcommunitiesparticipatedinthe
survey:847clinicsacross173medicalgroups.Thisisa130clinicincrease(18percent)in
participationfromthe2013survey.Thevastmajority(97percent)ofparticipatingclinicsare
locatedinMinnesota.TheremainingclinicsareinIowa,NorthDakotaandWisconsinandchoseto
voluntarilysubmitpatientexperiencedata.
Ofthat,765clinicsacross168medicalgroupshadenoughresponsestobepubliclyreportedforat
leastonedomain.Thisisanadditional130clinics(19percent)thanwerepubliclyreportedin
2013.
Results
Theresultsarescoredacrossfourdomains:AccesstoCare,ProviderCommunication,Courteous&
HelpfulOfficeStaffandRateYourProvider.
Thirty‐nineclinicsweresignificantlyhigherthanaverageinallfourdomains.
 Ninearemulti‐specialtyclinicsand30areprimarycareclinics.
 23arelocatedintheMetroareaand16arelocatedinGreaterMinnesotaoroutside
Minnesota.
 Ofthe24medicalgroupsthatthese39clinicsarepartof,ninearelargemedicalgroupswith
100ormoreproviders.
Fourofthefivehighestratedclinicsintheprovidercommunicationdomainwerealsothehighest
ratedintheprovidertopratingcategory,indicatingastrongcorrelationbetweenprovider
communicationandoverallpatientexperience.
ReleasedAugust26,2015
Detailedresultsonthefourdomainsare:
Access:Gettingcarewhenneeded
 60percentofpatientssaidtheyhadtop‐levelaccesstocare
 Sameresultasthe2013surveyresults
 Individualclinicshadresultsrangingfrom30to90percent
ProviderCommunication:Beinglistenedtoandreceivinginformationandinstructionspatients
understand
 83percentofpatientsgaveatop‐levelratingwhenaskedaboutcommunicationfromtheir
providers
 Duetochangesinthesurvey,thisscoreisnotcomparableto2013
 Individualclinicshadresultsrangingfrom54to94percent
OfficeStaff:Experiencingcourteousandhelpfulofficestaff
 81percentofpatientsgavetheofficestaffattheirclinicstopmarks
 Duetochangesinthesurvey,thisscoreisnotcomparableto2013
 Individualclinicshadresultsrangingfrom47to94percent
RateYourProvider:Beingsatisfiedwiththeirprovider
 79percentofpatientsgavetheirprovideratopratingof9or10ona10‐pointscale
 Onepercentagepointincreasefrom2013,whichisstatisticallysignificant
 Individualclinicshadresultsrangingfrom49to97percent
ReleasedAugust26,2015