Healthgrades on Tuesday announced the winners of this year's "Outstanding Patient Experience Award," recognizing 399 hospitals "that prioritize and excel in providing a best-in-class experience for their patients."

Cheat sheet: See how Healthgrades calculates its ratings

How Healthgrades choose the award recipients

Healthgrades' Outstanding Patient Experience Award recognizes hospitals that provide an outstanding patient experience to the Medicare population. This year, Healthgrades recognized 399 hospitals, representing the top 15% of U.S. hospitals.

To determine award recipients, Healthgrades assessed hospitals based on data from CMS' Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) patient survey. This year, Healthgrades assessed 3,173 hospitals that submitted at least 75 HCAHPS surveys to CMS covering admissions between July 2020 and March 2021.

Healthgrades automatically excluded any hospital that fell in the bottom 20% for overall clinical quality.

HCAHPS survey questions measured patients' perceptions of their care in the hospital, with a focus on 10 key topics, including:

1. Overall rating

2. Recommendation to family and friends

3. Communication with doctors

4. Communication with nurses

5. Responsiveness of hospital staff

6. Communication about medicines

7. Cleanliness

8. Noise levels in patient rooms

9. Discharge information

10. Care transition

"Factors like cleanliness and responsiveness of staff are extremely important when it comes to the overall patient experience," said Burt Kann, EVP and head of product at Healthgrades. "Our mission at Healthgrades is to provide patients with the information and tools they need in order to choose the right hospital and doctor for their needs."

Among this year's award recipients are nine hospitals that improved patient experience across nine of the 10 measures, and 130 recipients that improved across at least five of the 10 measures. 

Notably, Hays Medical Center in Kansas and Penn Highlands Elk in Pennsylvania were the only award recipients that improved patient experience across all 10 measures.

"It's no surprise that patient experience in our healthcare systems has suffered due to the COVID-19 pandemic, so it's exceptional that nearly 400 hospitals received top marks in patient experience," said Brad Bowman, CMO and head of data science at Healthgrades. "We commend these hospitals for their ongoing commitment in keeping the patient experience front and center even through challenging times."

View the full list of award recipients here. (Carbajal, Becker's Hospital Review, 6/21; Healthgrades press release, 6/21; Healthgrades "Outstanding Patient Experience Award" list, 6/21)