At FPA our clinics strive to provide the best possible service to our patients. In order to do this, we need to know what is working and what needs improvement. This means we rely on feedback from our patients. The FPA survey is handed out to patients during their visit to a FPA clinic. The following data is based on over 26,000 surveys returned during the Fall 2007 survey process. FPA would like to make this information available as a tool for patients to evaluate how well their clinic performs on specific areas of the patient experience. The comparison does not endorse or guarantee the quality of care of any clinic.

What is the "patient experience"?
The patient experience refers to all that happens to a patient from the moment he or she walks into a clinic until the end of the appointment. It also includes all phone calls or other contact a patient has with the clinic before or after appointments. FPA used surveys to learn about the patient experience of treatment and care given by physicians and others in the clinic.

The five survey questions FPA reports on are:
1. Overall: “I would rate the overall care that I have received at this clinic as excellent”

2. Recommend: “I would recommend this clinic to my friends”

3. Teamwork: “The clinic staff and physician/practitioner worked as a team to make my visit go smoothly” (Understand how well care is coordinated within the clinic)

4. Physician Care:“Overall, I am satisfied with the physician/practitioner care”

5. Access: “I was able to schedule this appointment within a reasonable amount of time” (Understand if patients are able to receive care in a timely fashion)

How does the patient experience relate to quality healthcare?
Studies show that the patient experience is one of the most important aspects of quality healthcare. For instance, a good experience can help patients follow (comply with) medical advice. A bad experience may keep patients from getting needed care if they leave a clinic feeling mad or confused. Clinics can use patient experience information to improve the quality of care they give to patients. For instance, physicians may make changes to check that patients understand health information and what to do when the visit is over or to help them remind patients to get needed tests and make sure patients get the results from tests. They might return patient's phone calls faster or make it easier to get appointments.

How can this report help patients and their family members?
See how clinic compares to others in FPA. Help choose a new clinic. This includes making a choice based, in part, on experiences from other patients. Help a friend or family member learn more about their clinic Talk about their experience with the physician. Since physicians already know about this survey, they should be ready to discuss it with patients.

Explanation of the Star ratings: Over 99% of surveyed patients agree or strongly agree that the overall care they received was excellent. The star rating for each measure tells you how a clinic compares in the Strongly Agree category to all the other clinics within Fairview Physician Associates that were part of the FPA survey.
Clinics with 1 stars (*) below FPA Average Range
Clinics with 2 stars (**) within FPA Average Range
Clinics with 3 stars (***) above FPA Average Range.

Clinics with (ND) displayed did not have enough data to report this measure. This does not mean that the quality of care delivered by that clinic is either good or bad.

Does a low rating mean that a Clinic gives poor care? Not necessarily. A low score can simply mean that the clinic needs to improve just one aspect of care. Physicians are working hard to improve the quality of their healthcare. FPA expects these improvements to show up in future patient experience surveys.

The following reports are Adobe Acrobat files (.pdf) If you do not have Adobe Acrobat, you may download it at the following link: Get Acrobat Reader

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