What is NPS in healthcare? How to calculate it and why it matters

No one likes to be admitted to the hospital, yet the need for quality health care is a reality of life. And when patients do need care, it’s critical for the growth and reputation of your healthcare business that their experience is positive.

In fact, recent SurveyMonkey research found that 88% of healthcare executives understand patient experience is somewhat or much more important than before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Patient satisfaction and loyalty are critical factors in healthcare delivery today. Net Promoter Score® (NPS) serves as a key metric that enables healthcare organizations to measure these factors effectively. With the growing emphasis on patient-centered care, NPS has become an invaluable tool for assessing and improving healthcare services.

Beyond simply measuring patient satisfaction, healthcare organizations today need deeper insights into the patient journey. Traditional patient surveys often capture only point-in-time feedback, but NPS provides a forward-looking metric that predicts future patient behavior and loyalty.

In this guide, we'll explore what NPS is, why it matters in healthcare, how to calculate and use it effectively, and strategies to improve your scores for better patient outcomes and business growth.

Net Promoter Score is a customer experience metric that measures how healthcare providers and their services are perceived by your patients.

The question asks patients how likely they are to recommend your healthcare services to friends and family, providing a powerful indicator of patient satisfaction and loyalty. Data collected via Net Promoter Score in healthcare can also provide indicators that are relevant to future growth and success.

Patient loyalty plays a crucial role in improving clinical outcomes and revenue growth for healthcare providers. The connection between patient satisfaction and long-term business growth is direct and measurable, with returning patients contributing to clinical success and financial stability.

It's important to note that while traditional customer satisfaction metrics remain valuable, they often fail to capture the emotional connection patients have with their healthcare providers. NPS bridges this gap by focusing on likelihood to recommend, which requires rational satisfaction and emotional loyalty. When healthcare organizations monitor both satisfaction and NPS, they gain a complete picture of the patient-provider relationship that drives long-term sustainability and growth.

Regular patients who trust your organization are more likely to return for ongoing care, resulting in consistent revenue streams.

Returning patients provide valuable feedback. This feedback helps you continuously refine and improve how patients feel about their care experience across all touchpoints.

Satisfied patients become advocates, referring family and friends to your practice. Word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most effective marketing strategies.

Loyal patients are more likely to follow treatment plans, attend follow-ups, and actively participate in their care journey.

Patient loyalty data helps healthcare leaders make strategic decisions about service improvements and investments.

Understanding and improving loyalty metrics gives you an edge over healthcare competitors who don't prioritize this insight.

Measuring loyalty helps identify issues before patients leave, allowing you to address concerns proactively.

Returning patients contribute to predictable revenue, making financial planning and growth initiatives more reliable.

Measuring loyalty shifts organizational focus from transactional care to building lasting patient relationships.

Healthcare organizations known for high patient loyalty naturally develop stronger community reputations.

NPS provides valuable insights for healthcare providers looking to improve patient experiences through a straightforward survey process that can be easily implemented across diverse healthcare settings.

Created in 2003 by Bain and Company, NPS surveys are quick and straight to the point. They ask one simple question: How likely are you to recommend (company X/product Y/service Z) to a friend or colleague?

This core question is typically followed by an optional question for qualitative feedback, such as "What is the primary reason for your score?" This additional question provides context to the numerical rating and helps identify specific areas for improvement.

The NPS question uses a rating system from zero to 10, with higher numbers indicating greater likelihood to recommend. This net promoter score scale is standardized across industries, making it a reliable benchmark for comparing your performance against competitors and industry averages.

Using a rating system of zero to 10, customers fall into one of three categories:

While no one likes to receive negative feedback, consider it a positive that you have identified any problems. You can now set goals—both internally and externally—to enhance and improve patient experiences. Detractors often provide the most valuable constructive feedback that can drive meaningful improvements in your healthcare services.

The power of healthcare NPS lies in its simplicity, but the insights it provides are remarkably nuanced. By tracking the distribution of Promoters, Passives, and Detractors over time, healthcare organizations can monitor shifts in patient sentiment that might not be apparent in overall customer satisfaction scores.

For example, a migration from Detractors to Passives indicates improvement but may not immediately boost your NPS. Similarly, converting Passives to Promoters significantly improves your score but may require strategies different from those addressing Detractor concerns. This nuanced approach to measuring satisfaction allows for more targeted improvements to the patient experience.

Once you have collected the scores, it is time to calculate your Net Promoter Score. Based on your calculations, you will receive a percentage for each set of respondents (Detractors, Passives, and Promoters). To calculate the percentage, follow these steps:

The formula to calculate your percentage is:

(Number of Promoters – Number of Detractors) / (Number of Respondents) x 100

Here is an example:

Let's say that you received 100 responses to an NPS survey. From those 100 responses:

So, when you calculate the percentages, you get 10%, 20%, and 70%.

Now, subtract the 10% (Detractors) from 70% (Promoters), which gives you 60%.

Remember that NPS scores are given in integers and not percentages, so your score would simply be 60. This number would then fall on a scale of -100 to +100, the higher the number the better the score.

NPS in healthcare typically falls within specific benchmark ranges that vary by specialty and service type.

NPS is continually being updated as new responses are received so you can track patient perceptions; benchmark against internal and industry averages; and monitor progress to improvements that will boost your score.

This ongoing feedback loop enables a comprehensive understanding of your patients' experiences and expectations, allowing for more targeted improvements.

NPS helps pinpoint specific aspects of your healthcare service that need enhancement to better meet patient expectations. The feedback you receive often highlights critical customer touchpoints that cause frustration or delight, allowing for targeted improvements.

Compare your healthcare NPS score against other healthcare providers to understand your market position and set realistic improvement goals.

Higher NPS scores correlate with increased patient retention and loyalty, helping healthcare providers forecast patient behavior more accurately.

Gain comprehensive insights into how satisfied and happy patients are with aspects of your services and care delivery.

Measure how operational or policy changes affect patient perception through consistent NPS survey distribution. This allows you to fine-tune initiatives for maximum impact.

Identify which patients are likely to recommend your services to others, enabling targeted relationship-building strategies.

Leverage happy patients for marketing and growth initiatives by inviting them to share their positive experiences.

Higher NPS scores correlate directly with stronger patient-provider relationships, which leads to measurably better clinical outcomes. Patients who feel valued and respected by their healthcare providers demonstrate greater trust, better treatment adherence, and more effective communication about symptoms and concerns.

Evaluate how well your communication strategies resonate with patients to optimize information delivery across all touchpoints.

Identify connections between staff satisfaction and patient experience to create more effective workforce development programs.

Make data-driven decisions about where to focus improvement efforts for maximum impact on patient satisfaction and outcomes.

Regardless of what industry you're in, it's important to remember that you're engaged in customer service. In healthcare, of course, those customers are typically patients, and you are "selling" optimal care that is delivered in a way that is as seamless and effective as possible.

With that mindset, you can use NPS data to find ways to improve how patients feel, whether it be using medical intake forms to improve the intake process all the way to making the discharge experience hassle-free and even, in some instances, celebratory.

NPS surveys can help reveal ways you can improve customer retention, acquisition, and customer loyalty.

Promoters—repeat customers who are most likely to recommend you to friends and family—are likely to remain loyal. They can help bring new, potentially loyal patients into the fold. In fact, research suggests that promoters may account for up to 80% to 90% of all referrals.

Businesses in every industry need to be keenly aware of their online reputations. However, it is particularly critical in healthcare. When it comes to people's health and the care they receive, the stakes are higher than, say, a consumer trying a new chocolate bar introduced by a candy company.

NPS scores allow you to consistently track how your patients view your healthcare organization. If you start to see negative trends, you can quickly start instituting changes to address issues that may be leading to negative reviews.

You can amplify the value of NPS survey data by connecting it to EHR and revenue cycle data.

For instance, in a review of revenue cycle data, you may find that Detractors tend to delay paying bills as quickly as Promoters.

Through that insight, you could take targeted action to improve the patient experience for Detractors with the hope of boosting their perception of your organization—and leading to more on-time bill payment.

Related: Learn more about customer service feedback

Different healthcare sectors have varying benchmark ranges in the healthcare industry:

Understanding the context of your healthcare NPS benchmark is essential for proper interpretation of your results. Factors such as specialty, patient demographics, geographic location, and payment models can all influence what constitutes a "good" Net Promoter Score for your specific organization.

For instance, emergency departments typically score lower than elective care settings due to the inherent stress and circumstances of emergency visits. Similarly, practices with predominantly older patients often see higher Net Promoter Scores. This demographic tends to report greater customer satisfaction across industries. Consider these contextual factors when evaluating your performance against industry benchmarks.

With SurveyMonkey benchmarks, you can get context for your Net Promoter Score. Hundreds of healthcare companies use our NPS template to measure customer loyalty and improve business outcomes. Our data is diverse, covering everything from small organizations to large corporations and a broad range of industries.

To maximize your NPS program, it's important to go beyond collecting patient feedback. You should aspire to creating an organizational culture that prioritizes the patient experience.

The following strategies ensure your NPS initiatives drive meaningful improvement rather than another metric that's collected but not acted upon.

Net Promoter Scores offer valuable feedback. In healthcare, it can be leveraged in ways that add value, particularly when it comes to adding the "human touch" by demonstrating that their feedback was heard and matters.

As a healthcare provider, you can make organizational changes that enhance patient care. Then, follow up with the patients who completed your surveys to notify them of improvements.

Examine NPS results by patient demographics, visit types, departments, or other relevant categories to uncover areas needing attention.

While maintaining the simplicity of NPS, consider adding 1-2 follow-up questions to gain deeper insights into the reasons behind healthcare NPS scores.

Prioritize addressing issues raised by Detractors to convert them into Passives or Promoters and prevent negative word-of-mouth.

Develop strategies to move Passives (7-8 scores) into the Promoter category by identifying and addressing their specific needs.

Monitor healthcare NPS scores over time to identify patterns, seasonal variations, and the impact of implemented changes on patient satisfaction.

Establish realistic targets for NPS improvement based on current performance and industry standards.

Make NPS data accessible to relevant team members to foster a culture of patient-centricity and continuous improvement.

Complement NPS with other healthcare metrics like HCAHPS or patient satisfaction scores for a comprehensive view of performance.

Reach out to respondents based on their category (Promoter, Passive, Detractor) with personalized communications addressing their feedback.

Use positive NPS feedback to recognize and reward staff members who consistently deliver excellent patient experiences.

Optimize the survey process to be quick, intuitive, and accessible across various devices to maximize response rates.

NPS stands out from other methods of measuring patient satisfaction because it focuses on loyalty rather than just satisfaction. 

The healthcare NPS benchmark provides a standardized way to evaluate your performance against competitors and industry standards. This comparative approach helps organizations identify whether their patient experience truly stands out in a crowded marketplace or whether improvements are needed to reach exceptional service quality that today's healthcare consumers expect.

Nonetheless, it works best when integrated with other customer satisfaction metrics that capture different dimensions of the patient experience. A patient might be satisfied with a single visit but not necessarily committed to returning or recommending your services.

Consider supplementing your NPS program with targeted questions about specific touchpoints in the patient journey, Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) surveys for regulatory compliance, or experience ratings for individual providers or departments.

Many healthcare organizations also incorporate Customer Effort Score (CES) to measure how easy it is for patients to accomplish tasks like scheduling appointments, accessing records, or navigating billing processes. 

This multi-faceted approach creates a comprehensive view of your performance and helps pinpoint what improvements will have the greatest impact. When compared against your healthcare NPS benchmark, these additional metrics can reveal whether specific experience elements are underperforming relative to overall loyalty.

Short, sweet, and to the point. That should be your mindset when crafting an effective NPS questionnaire.

It's important that you provide relevant context so potential respondents understand why they are being asked to complete the questionnaire. Inform respondents the survey’s goal is to ensure patients have the best experience possible with your healthcare organization.

From there, get right to the point by posing the hallmark NPS question. In healthcare settings, providing respondents the opportunity to share any additional thoughts with a question such as "what does our organization do really well?" is also a great way to get a valuable perspective about your results.

Related: Customer service feedback survey templates

It's often said, what gets measured gets done. And few metrics can match the ease, consistency, and effectiveness of Net Promoter Score. Implementing NPS in healthcare is a great way to improve the overall health and prosperity of your business.

NPS provides healthcare organizations with a simple yet powerful tool to measure customer loyalty, identify areas for improvement, and drive meaningful change. In today's competitive healthcare industry, regularly collecting and acting on NPS feedback enables providers to enhance patient experiences, improve clinical outcomes, and achieve sustainable business growth.

With our specialized solutions for healthcare organizations, you can easily implement, analyze, and leverage NPS to transform your patient experience strategy. Our Net Promoter Score solutions and customer service feedback solutions are designed to help you capture meaningful insights and take action on patient feedback.

Get started quickly with our ready-to-use templates, including customer feedback surveys, healthcare-specific surveys, and Net Promoter Score templates. These templates are designed to help you gather the right information without building surveys from scratch.

Want to learn more about how SurveyMonkey can support your customer experience strategy? Visit our customer experience role page to discover all the ways we can help your healthcare organization thrive.

NPS®, Net Promoter® & Net Promoter® Score are registered trademarks of Satmetrix Systems, Inc., Bain & Company and Fred Reichheld.