The Impact of Chaplaincy Departments on Hospital Patient Experience Scores.

Goal: Chaplaincy departments may be an important resource for directly improving patient experience, and they may indirectly provide staff support resources to address workplace well-being. However, there is little empirical evidence to support whether or not having a chaplaincy department is associated with positive benefits for acute care hospitals.

Methods: This study used survey data from the American Hospital Association Annual Survey, the Area Health Resource File, and the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) data by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to examine urban adult acute care hospitals between 2015 and 2019 and determine whether having a chaplaincy department impacted HCAHPS patient experience scores.

Principal findings: Hospitals with chaplaincy departments reported higher HCAHPS global ratings and higher ratings of patients likely to recommend the hospital.

Practical applications: The study demonstrates that chaplaincy services may be an underutilized tool to improve patient experience scores. The scores are critical for hospital reimbursement, improved patient outcomes, and patient loyalty. In October 2022, CMS began allowing hospitals to start coding for chaplaincy service encounters. As a result, we may now see even more evidence demonstrating the positive relationship between chaplaincy services and other important hospital metrics.