Key Results
The Challenge
Midwest Regional Health System (name changed for privacy), a 600-bed academic medical center, faced a familiar challenge: their HCAHPS scores had plateaued, and traditional feedback methods weren't providing the depth of insight needed to drive improvement.
“We were doing everything by the book,” explained their VP of Patient Experience. “Press Ganey surveys, patient advisory councils, occasional focus groups. But HCAHPS results arrived 6-8 weeks after discharge—by then, the moment had passed. And our focus groups? We'd spend $15,000 to hear from 12 patients.”
With CMS tying 25% of payments to patient experience through the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing program, the stakes were high. The organization needed a way to capture qualitative insights at scale—understanding the “why” behind their scores, not just the numbers.
The Approach
After evaluating several solutions, the health system partnered with Qualz.AI through the Blue Lens Research platform to implement AI-moderated patient interviews. The implementation focused on three key areas:
Continuous Feedback Collection
Rather than periodic focus groups, patients were invited to participate in 15-minute AI-moderated conversations within 48 hours of discharge. The 24/7 availability meant patients could participate at their convenience.
Automatic Theme Identification
AI-powered analysis identified emerging themes in real-time, correlating qualitative insights with specific HCAHPS domains. The patient experience team received weekly insight reports instead of quarterly focus group summaries.
Unit-Level Actionability
Insights were segmented by unit, allowing nurse managers to see feedback specific to their teams. This enabled targeted interventions rather than system-wide initiatives that might miss the mark.
Key Insight: The Discharge Communication Gap
Within the first month, a clear pattern emerged. Across 847 patient interviews, “discharge communication” appeared as the top theme—but not in the way the team expected.
Traditional surveys showed adequate scores for “information given about medications” and “understanding care after leaving the hospital.” But the qualitative interviews revealed a nuance: patients felt overwhelmed by the volume of information and wished for a “one-page summary” they could reference at home.
“They gave me three different packets of information. I appreciated it, but honestly? I was exhausted, on pain medication, just wanting to get home. A week later, I couldn't remember half of what they told me.”
This insight led to a simple but powerful intervention: a single-page “What to Know When You Go” summary, designed in partnership with patients from the advisory council. Within two quarters, the Communication About Medicines HCAHPS domain improved by 8 percentile points.
The Results
After 12 months with Blue Lens Research, Midwest Regional Health System achieved:
Looking Forward
The health system has since expanded the program to their ambulatory clinics and is piloting AI-moderated interviews for their upcoming Community Health Needs Assessment, required under the Affordable Care Act.
“The ROI was clear within the first quarter,” noted the VP of Patient Experience. “But honestly, what changed most was our culture. We went from talking about patient experience in quarterly reviews to discussing it in daily huddles. When you have fresh insights every week, you stay engaged.”
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