http://www.healthcaredive.com/news/why-geisinger-posts-negative-physician-reviews/429810/

Late last month, CMS updated its Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating program, its first update since July. In the update, 112 hospitals are now deemed five-star hospitals, up from 102 five-star hospitals in July but down from 251 in April 2015. As Becker’s Hospital Review noted, the October release includes updated data on patient experience, safety, effectiveness and timeliness of care.

The star ratings are related to patient satisfaction with care experiences based on data from the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Survey (HCAHPS) measures. The survey covers topics such as how well nurses and doctors communicated with patients, how responsive hospital staff were to patient needs, how clean and quiet hospital environments were and how well patients were prepared for post-hospital settings.

Opponents of the ratings have argued they oversimplify complex data and thereby convey misleading information that can harm reputations and reflect unfairly on certain hospitals. However, the move toward value-based care and transparency has led some healthcare organizations – such as Intermountain Healthcare and Geisinger Health System – to publish what patients think of them, for better or worse.

Patient stories have a greater impact on clinicians more than metrics like HCAHPS, Dr. Greg Burke, chief patient experience officer at Geisinger, told Healthcare Dive last week after a panel discussion on patient experience at U.S. News & World Report’s Healthcare of Tomorrow conference.

Geisinger serves more than 3 million residents throughout 45 counties in Pennsylvania. The physician-led system is comprised of approximately 30,000 employees, including nearly 1,600 employed physicians. It’s been in the news a bit lately due to its unorthodox move implementing its ProvenExperience money-back guarantee (It has refunded at least $400,000as of August). Burke stated that Geisinger posts about 97-98% of the comments it receives on the system’s clinicians.