Four branches of Penn Medicine were recognized for their patient experience by Press Ganey, a health care surveying firm.
The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania was awarded the Guardian of Excellence Award for Inpatient Patient Experience, granted annually to the top five percent of institutions focused on patient experiences.
Penn Medicine's Apheresis Therapy Treatment was granted the Pinnacle of Excellence Award for Outpatient Patient Experience, which recognizes organizations that maintain high levels of achievement over three years.
The Radnor Surgery Center and Chester County Hospital received the Guardian of Excellence Award for Ambulatory Surgery Patient Experience and the Guardian of Excellence Award for Inpatient Patient Experience, respectively.
Press Ganey collects their data from widely distributed post-treatment surveys. In these surveys, patients score their providers across a variety of measures of service quality, including care team attentiveness and communication, cleanliness, and the discharge process.
Penn Medicine attributes their recognitions to its patient-first mission and a variety of new initiatives created to streamline the patient experience, according to a press release.
“Patients come to us for expert clinical care but are delighted by the personalized service and attention they receive which truly makes an exceptional patient experience,” Craig Loundas, Associate Vice President for the Penn Medicine Experience, told Penn Medicine News.
Through a collaboration between Penn Medicine’s surgery center and the Penn Medicine Center for Health Care Innovation, text notification systems have improved communication about pre-op instructions, rescheduling, and cancellations.
Moreover, the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, which had previously solely focused on diagnosis, has expanded their services to include cellular therapy to help improve the patient experience.
Jessie Reich, HUP’s director of experience and magnet programs, further credited the Penn Medicine Academy for identifying employees who prioritize patient-first initiatives.
“It’s just who we are,” Reich told Penn Medicine News. “It's hard to teach empathy or compassion. And so recognizing that in people is really important.”
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