Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

14 QUALITY IMPROVEMENT & MEASUREMENT Birthday cards are just the start: Inside AdventHealth's hospitality strategy By Mackenzie Bean I n 2018, Altamonte Springs, Fla.-based AdventHealth set out to redefine what healthcare could look like by asking consumers a simple question: What does an ideal healthcare setting feel like? System leaders identified a similar trend in the answers. Patients wanted to get all of their care in one place, and they wanted the experience to feel curated. "Why does a patient have to go to three different buildings and go to three different locations and then also have to wait three weeks for one diagnosis? How do we solve that?" Joel George, MSN, RN, executive director of retail services strategy and operations at AdventHealth, said during a session at Becker's 16th Annual Meeting. at feedback became the foundation for the system's Health Parks, 36,000-square-foot facilities that bring services such as lab, imaging, sports medicine rehab, cardiology and primary care together under one roof. Patients check in once, and all of their appointments happen in that single location. One out of every three patients who walk through the door receive multiple services the same day. To date, AdventHealth has opened four Health Parks across Central Florida, and the model now anchors the system's ambulatory growth strategy in this region. e Health Parks are an ambulatory asset designed to focus on proactive outpatient care. By co-locating ambulatory services, especially near EDs, AdventHealth can create network integrity. e system has looked at referral patterns flowing out of primary care and added specialties in the health parks where co-location delivers the most strategic value. But what truly sets the Health Parks apart is AdventHealth's focus on hospitality. "At the end of the day, healthcare is customer service just like any other hospitality brand that's out there," Mr. George said. He noted that the next generation of healthcare consumers expect the same curated, five-star experience they'd get from a top hotel or restaurant brand. To meet that expectation, AdventHealth's Health Parks took learnings from hospitality brands like the Ritz-Carlton to train team members on how to embed hospitality into every patient interaction. Mr. George anchors this approach in the "peak-end rule," a psychological heuristic that people remember an experience by its peak moment and its ending. For a patient, the peak is almost always that first impression at the front desk, which is why the Health Parks focus on hiring concierge and check-in staff specifically from hospitality industries. Front desk team members remember patients' recent vacations, jot down personal stories to reference on the next visit and deliver small, unexpected touches that transform a clinical check-in into something personal. When patients have appointments on or near their birthday, the concierge staff circulate a card to give them before they leave. Early results back the strategy: Health Parks carry a 4.9 Google star rating across more than 6,000 reviews and sit in the 75th percentile for Press Ganey likelihood-to-recommend scores. ese practices were inspired in part by the book "Unreasonable Hospitality," and they reflect Mr. George's broader belief that patient experience is the next great investment in healthcare. "I don't think the next generation of investment in healthcare is a building or a service line," he said. "I think it's really experience. At the end of the day, how do you bring hospitality into healthcare?" n Amid legal dispute, Leapfrog debuts 'full transparency' badges By Paige Twenter A fter omitting about 450 U.S. hospitals from its Spring 2026 safety grades, The Leapfrog Group rolled out "full transparency" badges for hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers that submit all sections of Leapfrog's surveys. For more than a decade, Leapfrog has surveyed thousands of U.S. acute care hospitals and ASCs on patient safety measures and assigned grades, "A" to "F," every spring and fall. Its most recent safety grades were about 20% leaner than past ratings after a lawsuit filed in April 2025. Five hospitals that are part of Palm Beach (Fla.) Health Network, a division of Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, filed the lawsuit accusing Leapfrog of penalizing hospitals that did not participate in its surveys with poor grades. In March, a Florida judge agreed and ordered Leapfrog to remove the "D" and "F" grades from those five hospitals. The organization opted to not grade 450 nonparticipating hospitals. For each, Leapfrog has a red "Declined to Respond" notice. "Full transparency" badges will appear next to hospitals and ASCs that complete and submit all aspects of Leapfrog's surveys, according to a May 12 news release from the organization. Leapfrog, which is appealing the Florida judge's ruling, said it expects to resume full grading in fall 2026. In a May 12 statement, the organization said, "Leapfrog looks forward to celebrating the thousands of hospitals and ASCs that have demonstrated an unflinching commitment to transparency." n

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