It is our priority to extend the same high quality of care delivered within Penn Medicine facilities to the comfort of your home. Penn Medicine’s at-home services bring medical expertise to your doorstep, creating an accessible and effective environment of healing.
To continually improve our care, we rely on valuable data from the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Home Health Care (HHCAHPS) survey. See how Penn Medicine performs on the HHCAHPS survey.
This page is designed to help you learn more about what HHCAHPS data is about, why it matters to you, and how it shapes the care you receive at home.
By sharing this information, we hope to empower you to make more informed decisions related to your or your family’s healthcare journey.
Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Home Health Care (HHCAHPS)
HHCAHPS is a standardized, publicly reported survey of home health care patients’ perspectives of their skilled home care across the United States. HHCAHPS collects feedback from patients about their at-home care experiences and reports on the data four times each year.
The HHCAHPS survey measures the experiences of patients receiving home health care from Medicare-certified home health providers and agencies. Factors considered in measurement include:
- Communication about care, pain, and prescription medication use
- Care received from the home health provider
- Information provided regarding scheduling
- Global ratings
Patient responses are submitted to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which reports the results each year from all providers at Care Compare.
Why is the HHCAHPS survey important?
The HHCAHPS survey is important because it creates public accountability for home health providers, driving continuous improvement and high-quality care.
Patients and their families can use HHCAHPS data to directly review at-home service providers both locally and nationally to make informed decisions on who they choose to receive care.
HHCAHPS example questions
The HHCAHPS survey includes 34 questions and can be completed by either the patient or their proxy.
Twenty-five of the questions are “core questions” covering topics such as communication about the care received from the home health provider, scheduling and administrative questions, and overall ratings.
Example questions include:
- When you first started getting home health care from this agency, did someone from the agency tell you what care and services you would get?
- In the last 2 months of care, how often did home health providers from this agency treat you with courtesy and respect?
- When you contacted this agency’s office, how long did it take for you to get the help or advice you needed?
- Would you recommend this agency to your family or friends if they needed home health care?
How Penn Medicine uses HHCAHPS data
HHCAHPS results are just one way to make sure our patients and their families have a positive experience with our health system. Penn Medicine uses HHCAHPS data in the following ways to improve patient care and satisfaction:
Quality assessment
HHCAHPS data provides valuable insights into the quality of care and services provided by Penn Medicine. By analyzing the survey results, we can identify areas where we excel and areas that we can improve.
Patient-centered care
The data helps us understand the patient's perspective and experience. This patient-centered approach allows us to tailor services to better meet the needs and preferences of our patients.
Performance benchmarking
We use our HHCAHPS scores to compare our level of at-home care against national benchmarks. We can see how we perform related to other home health care providers on the same patient experience factors.
Quality improvement
HHCAHPS data helps us identify areas where we can improve, including in places where we may need additional training or support. For example, if communication scores are lower than we would like, we would create additional training for staff to enhance communication with patients.
Transparency
Sharing HHCAHPS scores and other information that is related to patient safety, quality and care, demonstrates our commitment to transparency. It helps patients make informed decisions about their healthcare and promotes accountability for our health system.
How does Penn Medicine perform?
HHCAHPS information for Penn Medicine’s at-home services is reported at the health system level. Use the charts below to view how Penn Medicine compares with the average score from the Press Ganey database the past three years. Use the drop down menu to view results related to home care, home infusion therapy, and hospice care.
Home Care
Home Infusion Therapy
Hospice Care
Home Care
Percent of respondents who said they would "definitely" recommend the hospice to their family and friends 
Percent of respondents who answered “yes, definitely” when asked whether a member of the hospice team explained the side effects of pain medicine with them or a family member