One of the clinics saw an
8.5% ↑
in their top box performance
EvergreenHealth Boosts Urgent Care Patient Experience Scores with CipherRounds
CipherRounds has helped us transform how we interact with our Urgent Care patients. With Cipher, we can collect real-time, actionable feedback that helps us improve the services we offer to the community. By having more meaningful conversations about their care, our patients feel truly heard, which improves their overall experience.
One of the clinics saw an
8.5% ↑
in their top box performance
Key Improvement Areas
Background
EvergreenHealth, recognized as one of “America’s 50 Best Hospitals” for the last five consecutive years (2021-2025), serves over 1 million residents across north King and south Snohomish counties. But their commitment to excellence extends beyond the hospital doors. After driving significant improvements in patient experience and optimizing workflows with CipherRounds in primary care, EvergreenHealth set out to bring the same success to its seven high-traffic urgent care centers. This initiative proved that innovative digital rounding can transform care in any setting.
The Challenge
Urgent care presents unique challenges—high patient volume, quick turnarounds, and brief patient interactions. EvergreenHealth’s seven urgent care centers were ready to try Cipher’s rounding solution, but could an initiative like this really work in such a fast-moving environment? Director of Urgent Care Services, Holly Nelson, MBA, BSN, was encouraged by the success seen in the primary care setting but still had questions: Could digital rounding work in a setting where interactions are so brief? When would the best time be to conduct a round in this setting? And would an already stretched-thin care team have the bandwidth to adopt a new tool without adding extra burden?
The Solution: CipherRounds
It didn’t take long for EvergreenHealth’s urgent care teams to realize the value of digital rounding. What started as a question—Can this work in a fast-paced urgent care setting? —quickly turned into a resounding yes. CipherRounds not only fit into their workflow but became a tool that staff actually wanted to use.
Additionally, the two solutions also offered leaders insights into rounding and outreach trends to inform data-driven process improvements for the future.
“We’ve seen how effective digital rounding can be in even the busiest settings. It’s helped us not only improve patient safety but also ensures that our leaders spend time connecting with patients to hear about their experiences of care. We can provide positive feedback
to our teams, and we can perform service recovery on the spot as needed, before our patients leave us.”Holly Nelson
RN, BSN, MBA, Director, Urgent Care Services, EvergreenHealth
Real-Time Data That Drives Continuous Improvement
With CipherRounds, EvergreenHealth gained real-time insights that drive continuous improvement. Customizable reports and dashboards made it easy to track trends, monitor processes, and assess patient outcomes with precision.
By using patient feedback as a catalyst for change, EvergreenHealth built a system for continuous learning. Real-time visibility into what’s working—and what needs attention—helped the team enhance patient experience and improve care team efficiency.
Streamlined Processes That Boost Patient Safety and Experience
Tailoring CipherRounds to the fast pace of urgent care, EvergreenHealth empowered care teams to make every interaction more purposeful. Custom-built scripts ensured staff could focus on what mattered most: engaging with patients meaningfully while addressing safety concerns. The shift to digital rounding created a more structured, proactive approach to patient care. Automated safety and compliance checks helped staff stay on top of critical steps without adding extra burden. The result was a smoother, more efficient process that enhanced both patient safety and overall experience.
Building Purpose Through Meaningful Feedback
One of the most powerful features turned out to be CareGrams—an unexpected but game-changing tool. Care teams can send and receive notes of appreciation, whether from patients or peers, helping foster a positive, supportive culture.
“CareGrams have been a crucial part of the success of this project. Staff love receiving this meaningful feedback and praise from patients and seeing the real-time results has made them feel more connected to the people we serve. Honestly, this feature wasn’t even on our radar during the sales process, and to our surprise, it’s become one of our team’s favorite things about Cipher. It’s just a great tool that fits in so nicely with the culture we have here at EvergreenHealth.”
Anne Grill
MS, Director of Patient Experience, Windham Hospital
The Results
EvergreenHealth’s urgent care centers saw impressive results after implementing CipherRounds. Year-over-year data shows major gains across the board, with top-box scores and percentile rankings rising in nearly every survey section within the first year.
Key areas of improvement included patient communication about delays, collaboration among staff, and the likelihood of patients recommending the centers. One clinic made a dramatic leap—moving from the 18th percentile to the 74th percentile in less than a year. These results highlight how the right tools can drive real, measurable change, even in the fastest-paced environments.
