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HCAHPS, however, isn’t just a system designed to inform the public about patient opinions in hospitals. In fact the most relevant aspects of the program are financial. The results of the HCAHPS scores are now used by medicare in its value based purchasing program which directly affects the reimbursement payments that hospitals receive from medicare. The results of the HCAPHS survey represent a difference between $300.000 and $2.000.000 dollars a year for each hospital.

In 2006 a countrywide system for measuring patient satisfaction in hospitals was launched by the U.S Department of Health and Human Services. Called HCAHPS, this initiative uses a standard patient experience survey to measure and benchmark hospitals from all over the country. For the first time in March, 2008 the results of the survey were made available to the general public through the website www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Here you can compare the patient satisfaction scores for any hospital participating in the program.