Advancing Patient Experience and Doctor Communication Excellence Through Targeted Multidisciplinary Intervention: A Quality Improvement Study

BACKGROUND: This quality improvement study aimed to enhance patient experience (PX) scores related to doctor communication (DC) on the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey. Recognizing that effective physician-patient communication is central to patient satisfaction, our institution sought to implement a structured, multidisciplinary approach to improving DC performance. METHODS: We implemented 7 coordinated interventions: (1) a weekly PX meeting with leadership oversight; (2) a standardized, system-wide approach to didactic PX content; (3) weekly one-on-one provider coaching; (4) quarterly hospital-wide educational sessions; (5) trainee-specific PX didactics; (6) detailed provider feedback based on patient comments; and (7) a formalized postdischarge telephone follow-up process. Data were extracted from 4859 completed HCAHPS surveys collected before and after intervention implementation. Mean percentile rankings and standard deviations for DC questions were calculated, and differences were evaluated for statistical significance. RESULTS: The average DC percentile ranking improved from 26 ± 5 to 49 ± 13 for all DC questions combined ( P < 0.05). Question-specific improvements were observed from 36 ± 8 to 57 ± 15, 30 ± 3 to 50 ± 13, and 17 ± 5 to 35 ± 11 for DC questions 1-3, respectively (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: A structured, multidisciplinary approach incorporating education, coaching, and feedback was associated with significant improvements in physician communication HCAHPS scores. This framework may be generalizable to other hospital settings seeking to improve patient experience.