MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – According to the nation’s first standardized, publicly reported survey that captures the patients’ perception of the care received, 94 percent of patients at Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast say they would "definitely recommend" the hospital to others. Based on this measure, Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast has the highest rating among hospitals in Northwest Florida and places in the top one percent of hospitals nationwide regarding the overall patient experience.

Hospitals nationwide are now sharing with the public survey results measuring their patients’ experience in a hospital – from the nursing care to the cleanliness of the room. The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) is the first national, standardized, publicly reported survey that captures the patients’ perception of the care they received. This new quality comparison tool, which has been in the works for years, is now available to the public online at www.HospitalCompare.hhs.gov.

“Sacred Heart supports the efforts of hospitals to be more open about the quality of care they provide,” said Roger Hall, president of Sacred Heart Hospital on the Emerald Coast. “Six years into our journey of providing high quality, compassionate health care, we continually focus on ways to improve patient care and make a difference in our community.”

With the common goal of continually improving patient safety and quality of care, the primary objectives of HCAHPS include creating a nationally standardized survey for meaningful comparisons, increasing hospital accountability and incentives for quality improvement, and enhancing public accountability. The survey includes 27 questions that are bundled into the following 10 composite scores: