HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a national, standardized survey of hospital patients. HCAHPS (pronounced “H-caps”) was created to publicly report the patient’s perspective of hospital care. The survey asks a random sample of recently discharged patients about important aspects of their hospital experience.

The HCAHPS results posted on Hospital Compare allow consumers to make comparisons between hospitals, and to compare individual hospitals to state and national averages/benchmarks.

Because of the potential for drug interactions and side effects, it is very important that patients and staff communicate about medications, what they are for, what they could interact with and what side effects patients should look out for and report. A higher score may indicate that a hospital provides a higher level of patient care.

About this measure

The questions related to this measure were: “Before giving you any new medicine….how often did hospital staff tell you what the medicine was for?, and how often did hospital staff describe possible side effects in a way you could understand?” Possible responses are Never, Sometimes, Usually, and Always. The measure reflects the percentage of respondents who answered Always to these questions.

Note: In this case, a higher number is better.