title: A randomized experiment investigating the suitability of speech-enabled IVR and Web modes for publicly reported surveys of patients' experience of hospital care.
abstract: The HCAHPS Survey obtains hospital patients' experiences using four modes: Mail Only, Phone Only, Mixed (mail/phone follow-up), and Touch-Tone (push-button) Interactive Voice Response with option to transfer to live interviewer (TT-IVR/Phone). A new randomized experiment examines two less expensive modes: Web/Mail (mail invitation to participate by Web or request a mail survey) and Speech-Enabled IVR (SE-IVR/Phone; speaking to a voice recognition system; optional transfer to an interviewer). Web/Mail had a 12% response rate (vs. 32% for Mail Only and 33% for SE-IVR/Phone); Web/Mail respondents were more educated and less often Black than Mail Only respondents. SE-IVR/Phone respondents (who usually switched to an interviewer) were less often older than 75 years, more often English-preferring, and reported better care than Mail Only respondents. Concerns regarding inconsistencies across implementations, low adherence to primary modes, or low response rate may limit the applicability of the SE-IVR/Phone and Web/Mail modes in HCAHPS and similar standardized environments.
authors.affiliation: RAND Corporation, Santa Monica, CA 90407, USA. elliott@rand.org
authors.forename: Marc N
authors.initials: MN
authors.lastname: Elliott
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Brown
authors.forename: William G
authors.initials: WG
authors.lastname: Lehrman
authors.forename: Megan K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: Beckett
authors.forename: Katrin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hambarsoomian
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Giordano
authors.forename: Elizabeth H
authors.initials: EH
authors.lastname: Goldstein
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D007407:Interviews as Topic / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017060:Patient Satisfaction / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011177:Postal Service; D049250:Speech Recognition Software; D013689:Telephone; D055815:Young Adult