Customer Satisfaction

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Of more than 150 Illinois hospitals ranked by their own patients, Morris Hospital was number one in Illinois for its overall patient rating.

“This is a reflection of the hard work our people and our physicians do here,” Bill Bruce, Morris Hospital & Healthcare Centers’ CEO and president, said. “It is also a call to our commitment to continue to improve in the future.”

This was the first year Consumer Reports provided patient satisfaction ratings of more than 3,400 hospitals in the nation. The information is provided online through Consum-erReportsHealth.org, but is available to subscribers only.

The ratings are based on the results of a federal government survey, Hospital Consumer Assessments of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey, also called HCAHPS. More than 1 million patients were surveyed nationwide regarding their hospital stays.

The HCAHPS focuses on several aspects of a patient’s experience: communication with doctors and nurses, pain control, how often help was received when needed, cleanliness and quietness of rooms, information about new medications, information about discharge, whether the patient would recommend the hospital, and the patient’s overall rating of their experience.

“This is a good solid performance by Morris,” Dr. John Santa, director of the Health Ratings Center for Consumer Reports said. “This shows they’re trying to be responsible to their patients and costumers.”
Bruce said this accomplishment was a team effort accomplished by the physicians, nurses, technical and support staff.

“I was absolutely elated and honored to be a part of the team at Morris Hospital,” he said.

Morris Hospital was given an overall rating of 81 out of 100 by its patients on the survey released this summer. Since Consumer Reports is for subscribers only, it has strict policies on publicizing its information. Therefore the hospital could not advertise its accomplishment, said Tildy La Farge, spokesperson for Consumer Reports.

The second highest scoring hospital for overall patient rating was St. Joseph’s Hospital in Breese.

None of the top 10 hospitals received a rating under 76.

Locally, Morris Hospital surpassed other area hospitals by several points. Ottawa Regional Hospital received a 62, Silver Cross Hospital in Joliet a 73, Provena Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet a 57, and St. Mary’s Hospital in Streator received a 68.

The size of the hospitals were not taken into account for the overall patient ratings, Santa said. Morris Hospital has the fewest beds of the local hospitals mentioned.

“We do note that often hospitals in smaller communities, and smaller hospitals, are able to perform better on these surveys,” he said. “One reason for that is folks in smaller communities support their hospitals.”

Morris Hospital ranked the highest it could on Consumer Reports’ “Better to Worse” scale in regards to doctor communication, nurse communication, attentiveness of hospital staff and pain control.

It ranked under the best on the scale for room cleanliness and above the worst for discharge instructions. Morris Hospital was right in the middle for quietness. But it was ranked on the worst end of the scale for communication about medications.

“We’re continuing to work hard to improve communication with patients,” Bruce said. “Today’s world has resulted in incredibly complex technologies and diagnoses, and communication with the patients to understand what their ailment might be and what to do about it is key.”

There is always room for improvement and it is ongoing at Morris Hospital.

“We’re policing ourselves with room cleanliness and discharge instructions. It’s a continual process of improvement,” Bruce said.

He continued that the hospital is putting forth efforts to make sure diagnoses and treatments are thoroughly understood by not only the patients, but also their caretakers.

Janet Long, hospital senior public relations associate, said a recent example of this was a meeting held among the hospital’s case managers and local nursing homes and home health agencies.

Proper discharge planning is just one step in ensuring a patient continues to get well once leaving the hospital. By keeping the communication lines open between health care providers, whether it is a family member or nursing home, this reduces the possibility of readmission, Long said.

The federal government routinely does the patient surveys, but, in addition, Morris Hospital does its own surveying to continue making improvements.

“We do follow ups with our patients on the quality of their care, chart reviews and phone surveys,” Bruce said. “A hospital is a complex, yet very human-orientated organization. We need to take care of everyone who comes through our doors with high regard for our patients as people.”

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