FAQ

Provider Star Ratings are an excellent way to market the high-quality care we provide for our patients in the in the ambulatory and outpatient setting. Star Ratings are an industry accepted and verified process for providing the most accurate patient ratings possible on our LLUH providers.  

More and more patients and their families are looking at online data to help select a provider.  91% of consumers read online reviews before selecting a provider; and are more likely to select providers or facilities that provide ratings and reviews. The benefit of Star Ratings is having a verified process that allows consumers to select a provider that fits them best based on their rating and profile.

Data collected from the National Research Corporations’ (NRC) Patient Satisfaction surveys will determine a provider’s score. Patients are invited to complete a survey via e-mail or phone after a qualifying visit at a LLUHC outpatient clinic. Patients who have had one of the following encounter types are invited to participate in our survey: Initial Consult, Initial Prenatal, Office Visit, Surgical Consult, Routine Prenatal, Phone Visit, and Video Visit. Responses to survey questions are specific to the encounter, provider and clinic staff for which the patient was seen. Clinic staff and providers have access to survey data and reports through NRC’s Real-Time platform.

Not all questions in the survey will be used to determine a provider’s rating. Questions that were chosen for the 5-star rating system are based on metrics from the Clinician and Groups Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG CAHPS) patient satisfaction survey. Any of the following metrics will be included:

QUESTION	RESPONSE SCALE
Did this provider explain things in a way that was easy to understand?	3
Did this provider listen carefully?	3
Did this provider give you easy to understand instructions about taking care of these health problems or concerns?	3
Did this provider seem to know the important information about your medical history?	3
Did this provider show respect for what you had to say?	3
Did this provider spend enough time with you?	3
Using any number from  to 10, where 0 is the worst provider possible and 10 is the best provider possible, what number would you use to rate this provider?	11

5-Star Conversion Scale:

• 4-Point Response Scale Conversions:

RESPONSE	STAR RATING CONVERSION
Yes, Definitely	5 Stars
Yes, Mostly	3 Stars
No	1 Star

• 11-Point Response Scale Conversions:

RESPONSE	STAR RATING CONVERSION
10	5 Stars
9	4.6 Stars
8	4.2 Stars
7	3.8 Stars
6	3.4 Stars
5	3.0 Stars
4	2.6 Stars
3	2.2 Stars
2	1.8 Stars
1	1.4 Stars
0	1 Stars

Patient comments in response to the open-ended question “What else would you like to say about your experience?” will also be published to a provider’s profile after they are reviewed through the comment review process.

Yes, comments (reviews) will be displayed with Star Ratings on the provider profiles once a provider reaches the minimum threshold of three approved reviews. Patient comments in response to the open-ended question “What else would you like to say about your experience?” will be published to a provider’s profile after they are reviewed through the comment review process. Comments are valid for a rolling 12-month period.

Yes. Providers are able to view their ratings and comments at any time through an internal preview environment (link below). Ratings and comments will be updated daily and published on the 1st of every month. Providers will receive a Star Rating Report Card with their monthly Scorecard via e-mail on the 15th every month. Link: https://transparency.nrchealth.com/internal/loma-linda-university-medical-center

Provider ratings will be published once they meet the minimum threshold of 30 survey responses. The minimum requirement ensures that data is not skewed and that there are enough responses reliably representing a provider’s rating. All FMG contracted providers who see patients in LLUHC’s outpatient clinics will be included in star ratings including Physician’s assistants and Nurse Practitioners.

If you do not have a Star Rating, your stars will blank and the website will say, “No available rating. See Why.” When you hover over See Why, a message will appear that states, “There is no available rating for this provider, either he/she only cares for patients as part of a team in the hospital, or he/she has not yet received the minimum number of reviews. We require a minimum of 30 surveys in a 12-month period, which ensures that the rating is valid and a true reflection of the patient experience.”

A provider profile will feature information about the provider such as specialty, practice location(s), contact information, conditions & treatments, procedures performed, education & training, and Star Ratings. 

If a provider would like to have a comment removed they may submit their request through an appeal process. The appeal form can be accessed on Quality Management’s intranet site. The appeal will be reviewed by the Transparency Advisory Group in which both parties will remain anonymous to each other. The committee will review all appeals on a monthly basis and the appealing provider will be notified via e-mail.

Comments under evaluation will be suspended from public view or the scheduled queue until a decision is made by the committee.

Comments will remain published and viewable to the public for a 12-month rolling period. The rolling period ensures that comments are up-to-date and relevant. Comments will be retired and archived once they have been on display for 12 months.

No, comments are left intact regardless of typos. However, comments are reviewed for the following prior to publishing: PHI, profanity, service recovery, potential libelous or defamatory content. Comments deemed appropriate for public view will be published however any PHI and staff names will be redacted.

No. Comments are recorded and stored on the Real-Time platform and patients indicate whether they would like to be contacted in regards to their survey responses. This is the only opportunity to respond to patients about their survey responses. Typically the clinic manager or group administrator responsible for service recovery will reach out to the patient. Comments published externally on our star ratings website are informational and not intended to be interactive. If a provider were given the capability to respond, the patient would not be notified. 

Including comments are important for the following three main reasons:

• Disclosure of what patients are saying about their experience with our organization is the hallmark of true transparency.
• Consumer ratings in the public domain are often accompanied by comments; and evidence suggests that the absence of comments diminishes the impact of star ratings.
• Search engines give credence to both ratings and reviews; organizations that have posted both have seen significant improvements in traffic from search engines to their provider profiles. Conversely, organizations that post only rating saw no significant improvements in search engine traffic. This allows us to have better oversight of our provider ratings and reviews thus increasing our ability to drive public perception.

No. We’re all in this together.