In mid-2023, CentraState Medical Center in Freehold, N.J., was having a communication and patient experience issue. Within a year, the hospital accomplished a turnaround.
After receiving less-than-ideal scores in CMS’ patient experience survey, the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems, the hospital required patient-facing clinicians to partake in Press Ganey’s Compassionate Connected Care program. The program is designed to build empathy and compassion skills.
Within a year of requiring participation, HCAHPS scores significantly improved, according to Chief Medical Officer James Matera, DO.
“When we undertook the [Compassionate Connected Care program] about three, three and a half years ago, I was not happy with our HCAHPS scores,” Dr. Matera told Becker’s. “Right after our first full year of doing this [and] having 70% of our clinicians take the course, our scores went up close to 300% — so much so that we were asked to present last year at Press Ganey on that.”
Between 2023 and 2024, the hospital’s overall star rating increased from 2 to 3 out of 5 stars, according to CMS data. The most significant improvement in communication was a 10-point jump in the percentage of patients who said nurses “always” listened carefully, from 75% in 2023 to 85% in 2024.
Several other HCAHPS survey responses about communication improved between 2023 and 2024, including:
- A five-point increase in doctors always clearly explaining things, from 66% to 71%
- A four-point increase in nurses always clearly explaining things, from 73% to 77%
- A four-point increase in doctors always communicating well, from 71% to 75%
Based on the most recent CMS data available, between April 1, 2024, and March 31, 2025, 79% of patients reported CentraState’s “nurses ‘always’ communicated well.” Seventy-four percent reported the same for the medical center’s physicians.
CentraState Medical Center — which is part of Atlantic Health, an eight-hospital system based in Morristown, N.J. — approaches communication skills as a key leadership and operational tenet.
Dr. Matera said any type of communication between or within hospital departments is an opportunity to build social capital, whether it’s phone calls, texts, secure chats or in-person conversations.
“It’s about morphing to what’s best, as long as you’re getting the message through,” he said.
While curbside consults go by the wayside, CentraState is investing in enhancing social capital through effective communication. For example, a February medical leadership retreat focused on those two priorities, and a broader initiative of “commit to sit” has been shared with patient-facing staff.
Several hospitals have “commit to sit” initiatives, as some studies have shown that physicians who are perceived by patients to be in the room longer compared to standing physicians.
“In this day and age now, with everybody on your electronic record, the tendency is to see the patient and then go off to another location and type your notes,” said Dr. Matera, who has been in the healthcare industry for more than three decades. “I want the docs to be there. So we have to make sure we have spots for them to do that. This way, if there’s questions, they’re on the floor. So increasing visibility, I think, is going to help with patient outcomes and satisfaction.”
“Trust me,” Dr. Matera added, “with AI and everything else, it’s going to become more and more important to adapt to different ways of communicating.”
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