Ratings and Reviews: Frequently Asked Questions

Why did we switch patient experience survey vendors?

• Beaumont Health began a vendor search process in mid-2019 to ensure that our organization was receiving the appropriate level of support, service and efficiencies.
• There has been a strong desire among the patient experience leadership team to explore meaningful ways to capture our patients’ experience and to provide all patients with the ability to share their experiences.
• Additionally, we always want to ensure that our costs are in-line with our expectations and that we are truly providing value to Beaumont.
  

How are we surveying patients?

• Real-time surveys will be sent via email, Interactive Voice Response (IVR) phone call and text.
• HCAHPS/Inpatient Adult surveys will be sent via two-wave mail to meet CMS requirements.

What languages is the survey in?

English, Spanish and Arabic (starting August 2020) are used for both real-time and HCAHPS/Inpatient Adult surveys.

What questions are on the BMG medical practice survey?

• Beaumont will be using NRC Health’s recommended questions for real-time outreach.
• The 9-question survey is significantly shorter than Press Ganey’s survey.

NRC Medical Practice Question Pod – Beaumont Medical Group

• Star Rating Question:
  • How likely would you be to recommend this provider to your family and friends?

• Comment Question:
  • What else would you like to say about your experience?

• HCAHPS/Inpatient Adult: Beaumont will be using the standard HCAHPS survey with three additional questions to meet patient and family-centered care needs. One PFCC question is focused on doctor/nurse consistency when providing the patient information and care and two questions focus on inclusion of family in care discussions and being allowed to be with the patient.  

Will we have percentile rankings?

While health care loyalty is best measured at the individual level (n=1), it is also valuable to understand customer feedback at the organizational level, and to compare against other like organizations. To meet this need, NRC Health provides robust and reliable comparative benchmarking information for questions used by at least 30 other locations. Benchmarks are available by service line, age group, sub-specialty, classification and location type.

Because NRC has a different set of clients than Press Ganey and the surveys are different for everything but HCAHPS questions, percentile rankings may look very different than they have previously.

Which BMG physicians are eligible for the program?
All BMG physicians with an ambulatory practice who participate in the NRC patient experience survey process are already part of the Ratings and Reviews program. Once physicians receive more than 30 completed surveys, their ratings and reviews will automatically be published on their profile on beaumont.org. BMG physicians who do not have an ambulatory practice (i.e., pathologists, hospitalists, etc.) are not eligible for Ratings and Reviews.

Where are ratings and reviews posted?
Ratings and reviews are posted on your Find a Doctor profile as well as in search results your profile appears in on Beaumont’s website. Your star rating appears prominently underneath your portrait, name and specialty.

Will Physician Ratings and Reviews change on Find A Doctor?

Star ratings and patient comments will look the same to visitors on Beaumont.org. The only change is that ratings and reviews prior to Dec. 31, 2019 are from the Press Ganey integrated survey and starting Jan. 1, 2020 are from NRC’s Real-Time survey for BMG.

When can I expect to see NRC comments on my profile?
BMG physicians with sufficient sample (30+ ratings) will see their NRC comments appear on their Find a Doctor profile starting June 1, 2020.

Affiliated physicians who opt in to the program will see their ratings and reviews appear once they’ve received 30 or more completed surveys. Please note: there may be a lag between when a survey is submitted and the ratings and reviews show up on your profile.

How is the star rating now calculated?

Star ratings are calculated on a consistent method approved by Beaumont Market Research Department based on research best practices. Specifically, the Star Rating question (0 – 10-point scale) will be converted to the 5-star rating for physician profiles on Find a Doctor.

How long will a patient’s ratings and reviews be on my profile?
Ratings and reviews from the last two years will show up on your profile, shown in descending order by date.

What is the NRC comment review process?

NRC reviews comments within five business days after receiving the surveys. Comments that pass NRC’s review are moved to the scheduled queue. Physicians will be able to review comments that are scheduled to be published on their NRC. Unless a comment is appealed, the comment will be published on the first of each month.

• If a comment is reviewed AFTER the 15th of the month, it will NOT be included on the NRC Provider Scorecard. Therefore, it won't be published until the following month, after physicians have had a chance to review on the following month's scorecard.

Are all comments published?
All comments (positive and negative) will be published except for those that meet the exclusion criteria below. Comments are reviewed twice by NRC and are either scheduled to be published or flagged for Beaumont’s review. All flagged comments are further reviewed by Beaumont’s Transparency Team before they are either rejected, edited to be in compliance with the exclusion criteria below, or scheduled for publication.

What are the exclusion criteria?
Before publication, comments are reviewed and removed for the following criteria: PHI, profanity, libel comments, comments about another physician, comments about the survey instrument, or any billing/front-desk/operational-related comments. Comments that meet this criteria are either edited to remove the verbiage issue or are not published.

Where can I review comments that will be published to my profile?

The NRC Provider Scorecard is emailed to participating physicians on the 15^th of each month. The email comes from subscriptions@nationalresearch.com. Comments can be found in the Star Ratings/Scheduled Comments section of the scorecard. Click here for a quick guide to help streamline the review process. Click here for a detailed description of the NRC Provider Scorecard. 

I have a comment that meets the exclusion criteria above. How do I appeal it?

Comment appeals need to be submitted through the NRC Comment Appeals Form. Once submitted, the comment will be reviewed by the Beaumont Ratings and Reviews Appeals Committee.

Any comment that is not submitted through the NRC Comment Appeal Form will be published the first of each month.

What happens after a comment is appealed?

The comment will be held from publishing until it has been reviewed by the Ratings & Review Appeals Committee.

• If an appeal is upheld, the comment will not be published. 
• If the appeal is declined, the comment will be published.

In both cases, you will be notified via email of the status of the comment. If the appeal is declined, you are given an opportunity to make a second appeal to the Appeals Committee. If the appeal is again denied, the comment will be published by the first of the next month.

Ratings & Review Appeals Committee members:

• Mike Barnes, M.D., Medical Director, Service, Beaumont Medical Group

• Melissa Ozdych, Manager, Corporate Insights & Analytics
• Lauren Card, Service Excellence Specialist
• Kirsten Kelly, Business Manager, Organizational Analytics
• Lori Manos, Director, Digital Marketing
• Mark Muroski, MBA, BSN, RN, Director, Clinical Operations
• Jacob Robison, Senior Digital Marketing Specialist, Digital Marketing

Why are negative comments published on my profile?
We sincerely understand your concern regarding negative remarks. Consumer research has shown that potential patients seek, but do not blindly give credence to, negative reviews. While we respect and appreciate your hard work and dedication, publishing negative reviews along with positive feedback helps establish trust and authenticity. Consumers use reviews to help make more informed decisions but understand that the information reflects subjective opinions and perceptions.

Do affiliated physicians have to participate?
No. Physician ratings and reviews is completely voluntary for affiliated/independent physicians. Affiliated physicians can also opt-out at any time. Ratings and reviews will not influence the sort order on the Find a Doctor website.

How and when can affiliated physicians sign up?
As an affiliated Beaumont physician, you have the opportunity to opt into this program by contracting with NRC Health to facilitate patient experience feedback and ratings and reviews aggregation and publication. You can get started today by contacting NRC Health directly.

What will the cost be to affiliated physicians?
Your cost will depend on the number of physicians in your practice, and if you need patient experience data collected. For more information, please contact NRC Health or you can also email CHEtransparency@corewellhealth.org with questions.

Why do I (affiliated physicians) have to pay for ratings and reviews?
To remain compliant with Federal regulations such as the Stark Law and Anti-Kickback Statute, Beaumont Health cannot subsidize independent physicians’ participation in patient experience feedback and the ratings and reviews program.

If you have additional questions, please email CHEtransparency@corewellhealth.org.