By Beth Fuller, Consulting Manager, Ricky McCraw, Principal, and Misty Milling, Consultant, Philips Blue Jay Consulting
Emergency Departments are in a new age where quality care must be provided with an excellent patient experience. In 2016, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will fully implement the Emergency Department Patient Experience of Care (EDPEC) as a standardized method of gathering and publically reporting emergency department patients’ experience across the nation.1
Seeing this as an opportunity to create a culture of excellence in patient experience for their ED, a four-hospital system in Texas contracted with Philips Blue Jay Consulting to identify and deliver process improvement initiatives to achieve their patient experience goals.
After three successful twenty-six week engagements featuring dedicated training, observation and validation, this hospital system was able to successfully enhance the emergency department experience provided to their patients. The hospital systems overall Press Ganey® standard score increased by 27 percentile points. The system adopted methodologies, training program, and process improvement initiatives that will support sustainable success and will continue to foster a culture of excellence.