The Bottom 50 HCAHPS Performers

I set our analysts loose on the 2007 HospitalCompare data set, to analyze the bottom-50 hospitals in the category "Percent of patients who reported that YES, they would definitely recommend the hospital."

The objective of the analysis was to isolate trends that might point to cultural issues common in the lower performers at this time.

The analysis showed that the worst performance categories for these hospitals were in the areas of 'Staff Explanation'. They showed a general desire by patients to have their treatments, medications, and recovery instructions clearly explained to them.

While it's too soon to tell whether these failures are a cultural issue, the results might certainly be seen as an indicator of a culture-challenge.

To see the results click here:

Five Facts about Culture

Here are five facts about culture from a report titled 'Concepts of Culture and Organizational Analysis'.

Although most reports I've come across indicate that culture can be effectively changed, controlled and managed to support organizational goals they often downplay the complexity of such a strategy. If changing your culture is something your serious about, understand that it's not a "get in get out" solution. It takes time and specialty training.


1. Culture indicates the 'way of life' for workers who often take its influence for granted (they simply accept it). The firms culture becomes obvious when an aspect of it causes a corporate setback (it must change).

2. Culture is stable over time and it resists quick changes.

3. A culture involves internal and external aspects. Internally, a culture might encourage quality, cost effectiveness and accuracy.

4. Culture can be measured, evaluated and perfected.

5. Culture can be managed to support the firm's strategic plan.