In the United States, hospitals and medical practices that do elective surgeries like total hip arthroplasty (THA) and total knee arthroplasty (TKA) face challenges with patient engagement. A big part of measuring surgery quality and getting paid by Medicare depends on collecting patient-reported outcomes (PROs) using surveys before and after surgery. These surveys give important information about patient pain, movement, and how well they improve after surgery. But getting many patients to respond to these surveys is hard.
Medical administrators, healthcare owners, and IT managers need to focus on ways to improve patient engagement before surgery. This article shares methods that can help raise response rates for surveys like HOOS Jr. and KOOS Jr. These methods also help meet Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) requirements and lead to better patient care.
CMS requires hospitals to track patient outcomes both before and after surgery under the THA/TKA PRO-PM program. Hospitals must get at least 50% of patients to complete both surveys to follow the rules. This helps make sure hospitals fairly measure patient improvement, adjusting for health conditions like diabetes or high blood pressure and other factors like age.
Pre-operative surveys are done from 0 to 90 days before surgery. They collect basic information about how much pain a patient feels, how well they can move, and how they function. The HOOS Jr. (for hips) and KOOS Jr. (for knees) surveys score from 0 to 100. CMS says a good surgery result means scores go up by at least 22 points for HOOS Jr. and 20 points for KOOS Jr. after surgery.
Good pre-op surveys do more than follow rules. They help doctors plan care based on each patient’s needs. Still, getting these surveys done well and on time is not easy.
Hospitals in the U.S. find it hard to get enough pre-op surveys completed. Some common problems are:
For example, a Lung Cancer Surgery study using the SeamlessMD® mobile app showed 40% of patients finished the pre-op survey, and 54% finished post-op health checks. Barriers like older age, low eHealth skills, and lack of internet made fewer patients participate.
Also, a surgery hospital tried to improve how patients used chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) wash before surgery. They reached a 75% survey response rate with phone calls and information sheets before admission. About 86% of patients said they followed the CHG washing steps. This shows that clear communication and repeated reminders help get better data.
Medical administrators and IT managers can use practical steps based on facts to improve patient engagement and survey completions. Some helpful strategies are:
Hospitals need to find eligible patients early in their surgery plans to start sending pre-op surveys. This means linking surgery schedules with patient contact info so the system can send messages soon after surgery is set.
Offering several ways to answer surveys—like email, text messages, phone calls, and online portals—has greatly increased responses. For example, Piedmont Healthcare got a 95.8% patient response rate by giving patients many ways to answer surveys and assigning staff to manage survey collection.
Clear and steady information about why pre-op surveys matter helps patients take part. Hospitals can give easy-to-understand info sheets and use scripted phone calls from nurses or pre-admission staff, who patients trust. Studies show that nurses before admission give better info than other staff.
Patient participation also grows when patients see how their survey answers help their care. The Lung Cancer Surgery study showed that patients felt more confident when they knew their surveys helped doctors make better treatment plans.
Mobile apps designed for patient use, like SeamlessMD®, can give personal instructions, reminders, and symptom surveys. These apps cut down on phone calls and visits because patients can get recovery info and report problems anytime.
Apps are very helpful in keeping contact before and after surgery, raising compliance rates. Seventy-four percent of patients in one survey found the SeamlessMD® app very helpful before surgery and many said they would recommend it.
Caregivers often help patients with their pre-op steps but are sometimes forgotten. Including caregivers with teaching materials and direct contact makes it more likely that patients finish surveys and follow instructions.
Studies show a gap between hospital rules and how caregivers actually help, especially with preventing infections. Getting caregivers involved improves patient survey completion.
Giving certain staff, like nurse coordinators or patient navigators, the job of managing survey outreach keeps things steady. Sparta Regional Healthcare improved nurse record-keeping by having nursing leaders help plan workflows, saving a lot of time.
Training staff to use scripts and digital tools reduces confusion and makes sure patients get clear info and timely follow-ups.
New technology can help improve pre-op survey completion by automating tasks and using smart workflows. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automated phone systems can lower the work for staff and improve patient contact.
Hospitals like John Muir Health and UPMC have shown how AI helps with clinical paperwork, saving time and reducing staff quitting. AI can also help with surveys by:
Simbo AI offers front-office phone automation with AI that helps medical practices. Their AI answering systems handle patient questions about pre-op surveys, help with scheduling, and make outreach calls. This frees up staff for other work. Automation tools like these improve how well hospitals meet CMS rules.
Hospitals using Epic Systems also add AI tools that listen in and work by themselves. These cut down doctor paperwork time outside work hours. AI tools also help patient engagement by making survey collection less work and easier for patients.
Successful survey programs link technology, process design, and human work. Hospitals must connect survey data with patient info, surgery dates, and medical details to meet CMS rules properly.
Working with outside vendors like ADN, which offers Core Measures Applications, helps hospitals map data, automate workflows, and simplify reports. Using standard data formats lowers errors and supports CMS’s reporting tools like Care Compare.
Following up with patients over a year after surgery needs steady communication systems. AI-powered workflows help keep this up without too much strain on staff.
High survey response rates are not just for rules. They affect hospital reputation and payments under value-based care models. CMS scores shown to the public influence patient choices and insurance contracts.
Hospitals that get lots of pre- and post-op patient survey data understand their care quality and patient satisfaction better. This helps them improve. For example, Piedmont Healthcare’s strong survey program helped them stand out by collecting almost all needed data.
With CMS focusing more on openness, using automated AI systems and strong staff workflows gives hospitals the best chance to meet and pass patient engagement goals.
By focusing on early patient identification, using multiple ways to communicate, including caregivers, and applying smart automation tools like those from Simbo AI, healthcare leaders in the U.S. can improve pre-op survey completion. This helps hospitals follow CMS rules, support better surgery results, improve patient satisfaction, and strengthen their work in today’s healthcare world.
AI is being utilized in healthcare to streamline various processes, improve clinician efficiency, enhance patient experience, and facilitate better care delivery through advanced tools.
Clinicians using AI charting with ambient listening technology, like at John Muir Health, saved an average of 34 minutes per day on documentation, significantly impacting their overall workload.
At UPMC, clinicians reduced their ‘pajama time’—the time spent on paperwork—by nearly two hours daily, allowing more focus on patient care.
Centralized medical records promote higher quality and personalized care by providing comprehensive patient information, making healthcare simpler for patients and providers.
Spartanburg Regional enhanced nursing efficiency by involving nursing leaders in decision-making, leading to time-saving changes like automated documentation that saved 9,000 hours annually.
Piedmont Healthcare achieved a remarkable 95.8% response rate for CMS-required pre-op surveys by providing multiple options for patients to complete them.
Sutter Health improved early lung cancer detection by systematically monitoring incidental pulmonary nodules found in scans, doubling their detection rate for early-stage cancers.
The implementation of AI tools, such as AI charting, led to a significant 44% reduction in physician turnover at John Muir Health, suggesting better job satisfaction.
Epic’s software connects 625 hospitals to the TEFCA Interoperability Framework, enabling seamless information exchange which is crucial for coordinated care.
Epic aims to design clinician-centered AI tools that lighten workloads while enhancing care delivery, aligning technology with the needs of healthcare professionals.
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