Having healthcare employees who are more engaged with their jobs leads to better quality scores, according to Press Ganey’s recent 2019 Strategic Insights white paper, “Accelerating Transformation: Translating Strategy into Action.”
The report compiles data on workforce engagement, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS), and Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grades from 253 healthcare facilities. Press Ganey analysts looked for correlations between high or low employee engagement and scores that reflect patient safety and patient experiences.
The levels of employee engagement were determined with a survey. (The report is available online at: https://bit.ly/2CIrc0B.)
Press Ganey determined that “in 2018, substantially more organizations with a high percentage of highly engaged units earned the top Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade compared to organizations with a low percentage of high-engaged units. The corollary is also true. Substantially more organizations with a small percentage of low-engaged units earned the top safety grade compared to organizations with a high percentage of low-engaged units.”
Of those facilities in which more than half of the work units have Tier 1 engagement, 54% earned a Leapfrog Hospital Safety Grade of “A.” The grade was earned by 25% in which fewer than one-quarter of the work units have that level of engagement. Forty-five percent of the facilities in which fewer than one-quarter of the work units have Tier 3 engagement earned Leapfrog’s “A.”