Member Satisfaction Survey Provides Welcome Feedback
Almost nine out of ten respondents to The Center for Health Affairs latest member satisfaction survey agreed that the association provides very important services to the hospital community. The majority of survey participants — 84 percent — also agreed that The Center provides very high quality services to its members. These findings, and many more, were revealed in the results of The Center’s latest member satisfaction survey conducted at the end of 2013 by Cypress Research, an independent, third-party research organization.
The survey consisted of two segments: an online quantitative member satisfaction survey for direct users of The Center’s services and qualitative telephone interviews with executives from member hospitals. Overall, the findings were very positive, not just in terms of general perception, but also within specific service areas.
“When I started looking at the results it became clear really quickly that the respondents were very happy with the work being done by The Center. Virtually everything I saw confirmed that The Center for Health Affairs is ‘on mission’,” said Pat Cirillo, president of Cypress Research. “When I started talking to the executives I saw it there, too. There was no mismatch between the qualitative and the quantitative findings.”
The online survey was designed to assess satisfaction with the many program areas of The Center for Health Affairs and included both hospital member contacts and non-hospital member respondents who collaborate with the association in a given service area. The survey design allowed for tailored surveys in each service area so that respondents were targeted with questions aligning specifically to their area of interaction with the association. In all, 770 surveys were distributed and 221 respondents completed the survey, resulting in a 37 percent response rate. Highlights from the online portion of the member satisfaction survey are included in the table below.
| Percentage Satisfied | Member Satisfaction Survey Question Description |
| 75% | The Center’s Effectiveness as an advocate for the healthcare sector at the local, county and state level |
| 89% | Usefulness of The Center’s Volume Statistics Report |
| 67% | Ease of use of the Volume Statistics Report retrieval process |
| 84% | Support provided by The Center for NEONI's PERQS Center |
| 95% | Quality of information provided to hospitals for the development of emergency preparedness capacity from The Center’s emergency preparedness initiative |
| 74% | Level of preparedness for local, regional or national disaster within their own organization |
| 85% | Support provided by The Center for technical issues and questions relating to ACEMAPP, The Center’s web-based clinical placement system. |
| 95% | The Center's Career Shadowing program is beneficial to workforce development |
| 84% | NEONI’s agenda focuses on the right nursing issues in Northeast Ohio |
| 69% | Quality of information provided to members at NEONI’s Fall Conference |
| 84% | The Center’s Behavioral Health RoundTable has positively impacted issues which impact behavioral health patients and healthcare providers in Northeast Ohio |
The executive interviews, which served as phase two of the member satisfaction survey, also provided a wealth of valuable feedback for The Center.
“Executives routinely talked about the consolidation of the market in Northeast Ohio and how the growth in size of hospital systems allows many members to do on their own some things that had been The Center’s purview in years past,” said Cirillo. “However, they also stressed that The Center still has a very important role in providing market statistics that no one else can and in providing an independent voice.”
Member hospital executives were also asked to weigh in on their perception of the current hospital environment. Several themes recurred throughout these discussions and across all member hospitals including:
- Massive change is expected and all are unclear on what path will be taken or what the end will look like.
- In years to come, hospitals will be paid less before they are paid more and, as a result, sacrifices will be a must.
- The Affordable Care Act was the right thing to do despite the challenges hospitals are experiencing as a result.
To see the complete results of the member satisfaction survey, contact Deanna Moore, vice president, corporate communications at 216.255.3614 or via email.
