About Our Survey
At Swedish, we’re dedicated to providing you quality, personalized health care. We are constantly striving to optimize your experience.
As part of ensuring you have a positive experience with Swedish, our online provider directory includes star ratings and patient comments for select providers.
How are Star Ratings Calculated?
At the end of an office visit, patients are invited to complete a short survey. The survey consists of a handful of standardized questions about your experience with our providers and staff. You will be asked to rate things like overall experience, wait time and a provider’s communication style. The ratings for overall experience are assigned a point value and then aggregated to establish the 0-5 star rating. Providers must receive at least 30 ratings in a 12-month period in order for the star ratings to appear. As new data is regularly added, old ratings and comments are removed to ensure the information remains current.
How are Comments Displayed?
Patients have the opportunity to provide comments and feedback. To protect patient privacy, all identifying information is stripped from comments before publishing. Profanity, language that may be considered slander or libel, and private health information are also deleted. References to a provider’s hours or ability to accept new patients will not be removed. This information is not deemed reliable and should be verified by the provider’s office. Comments are reviewed by an objective third party to ensure they are displayed in an unbiased manner.
Why Don’t All Providers Have a Star Rating?
If a provider is missing a star rating, it means that we haven’t collected enough survey results. We wait until a provider has received 30 ratings in a 12-month period before we calculate a star rating. We want to ensure the sample size is large enough to give an accurate representation. If a provider previously showed star ratings but does not receive 30 ratings during a 12-month period, star ratings will be removed from that profile until the minimum is reached. This helps maintain the validity of the star ratings based on a larger sample size.
Is the Information Credible?
Yes. Swedish worked with two prestigious organizations – the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) and the US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) – to develop our survey and rating system. We followed strict scientific principles in design and development. The survey’s design allows us to assess data from large samples of patient experiences across a variety of health care settings – all in an effort to improve your health care experience.
Why is This Important?
It’s all about you. As your partner in your health, we believe this data will help you make informed decisions. Also, we plan to use your feedback to continually improve the patient experience and provide the highest quality of care possible.