CAHPS Facts v. Fiction

The following post was written by Samadhi Moreno, Healthcare Research Associate at RMS.

I recently listened to a new AHRQ Podcast on the common concerns and misconceptions regarding the CAHPS surveys. The title of the podcast series was “CAHPS Surveys: Sorting Fact from Fiction” by Rebecca Anhang-Price.

CAHPS results are used for pay per performance measures and are publicly reported to encourage consumer’s involvement in their healthcare and promote quality improvement initiatives. Survey results impact reimbursement, so it is important to understand the common misconceptions providers may have regarding CAHPS surveys.

Some of the important points of the podcast include:

• It is a common misconception that patient surveys do not provide valid information about care quality. The Institute of Medicine identifies patient centeredness as an important element of quality of care. The CAHPS surveys offer valid and reliable data to measure patient centeredness and patient experience.
• CAHPS surveys measure patient experience, which is an important factor in quality of care that can only be measured by patient surveys. Good patient experience is correlated with good clinical outcomes, and is the reason CAHPS surveys are used for payment programs and performance measures.
• CAHPS Survey offer patients an opportunity to voice their opinions. The results in contrast, help patients choose a provider based on the experience of care.
• There seems to be a common misconception on whether patients are “knowledgeable” enough to report good care. However, if we take a look at the CAHPS surveys, these instruments ask patients to report on their experience of care. Patients are the best source for this type of information because they experience the care first hand. The CAHPS surveys do not assess any type of technical work, but rather complement existing technical measures.
• Patient’s experience is not influenced by whether the physician chooses a treatment protocol that fulfills the patient desires, but focuses on how well the providers communicate about the treatment option chosen. There is no evidence that offering unnecessary care will increase CAHPS scores in providers.
• There are certain strategies physicians can utilize to improve patient experience, such as:
  • Involving the patient in the decision making process
  • Discussing the context of the patient’s requests
  • Proposing alternatives to patient requests
• Lastly, providers might be concerned with how the patient population served can affect the providers CAHPS scores. However, CAHPS scores included in the publically reported results are case-mix adjusted to account for the variation in the populations served by physicians.

Research & Marketing Strategies (RMS) is a full service marketing and market research and consulting firm located in Baldwinsville, NY. As an approved CAHPS Vendor,  RMS’ Healthcare Department is composed of two divisions:(1) Healthcare Analytics and (2) Healthcare Practice Transformation. The Healthcare Analytics team is responsible for several aspects of the CAHPS Survey Administrations including the following product lines:  HCAHPS®, HH-CAHPS®, CG-CAHPS®, and ICH CAHPS®. The Practice Transformation team handles the coordination of quality initiatives to assist clients achieving Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) recognition. To learn more about our healthcare services, contact Sandy Baker, Senior Director of Business Development & Corporate Strategy at SandyB@RMSresults.com or by calling 1-866-567-5422. Visit our website at www.RMSresults.com.

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What You Need to Know About OAS CAHPS®

The following blog post was written by Hilary Ranucci, Business Development Coordinator at RMS.

RMS continues to expand their abilities and is pleased to announce that we are a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approved vendor of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems^® (CAHPS^®) for Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery (OAS) survey! RMS has almost a decade of experience in CAHPS survey administration, and is highly skilled in the collection of data and reporting along with a high response rate.

While participation in the OAS CAHPS survey is voluntary for 2016, we expect it to become mandatory in coming years. However, there are benefits to beginning the process early before it’s mandated. Benchmarking and baselines will become established for your organization as well as being able to improve service by learning from patient feedback. You’ll also become familiar with the process and be well prepared for when it does become mandated.

The OAS CAHPS survey will be implemented in January 2016 and surveying will be conducted on a monthly basis, similar to the hospital H CAHPS survey. RMS is able to offer multiple modes of surveying that best meet the needs of your organization. For more information about the OAS CAHPS survey process, qualifications, and quality measures, click here.

RMS has assisted hospitals, accountable care organizations, physician practices, home health and hospice agencies, and in-center hemodialysis facilities set a benchmark for current patient satisfaction in order to improve overall patient satisfaction.

RMS Healthcare is an approved vendor for the OAS CAHPS surveying process. In fact, RMS is approved for seven variations of CAHPS surveying! For more information or to request a proposal, please contact Sandy Baker, our Senior Director of Business Development & Corporate Strategy at SandyB@RMSresults.com or by calling 1-866-567-5422. Visit our website at www.RMSresults.com.

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Need a CAHPS® Surveying Vendor for ICH Facilities? | RMS is NRAA Preferred

This blog post was written by our guest blogger, Megan O’Donnell, Manager of RMS Healthcare.

The healthcare team at Research & Marketing Strategies is expanding its complement of survey administration of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) to include the newly-required In-Center Hemodialysis (ICH) CAHPS® survey.  This new survey is added to the company’s CAHPS® survey administration activities already in place for hospitals, home health agencies, and physician practices.

RMS Healthcare is available for any in-center renal dialysis facility to meet the survey administration requirements set forth by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS), which require the facility to use an outside vendor to complete the survey among adult patients currently receiving dialysis and have been with the facility for a minimum of three months. To this end, RMS Healthcare has just been identified as a preferred vendor for the National Renal Administrators Association (NRAA), and will be available to its membership for CAHPS® survey administration beginning this month.

In its Final Rule for PY2014 End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) Prospective Payment System and Quality Incentive Program (see it here: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-11-10/pdf/2011-28606.pdf), CMS imposed a requirement that ESRD facilities serving patients in-center conduct the CAHPS® survey during the performance period of Calendar Year 2012 in order to avoid reductions in payments from CMS in PY2014.

RMS is a NRAA Preferred CAHPS® Survey Vendor

Because so many facilities will be looking to meet the CMS requirements by the end of the calendar year, and because the survey administration process normally takes a minimum of two months to complete (from setup to data analysis), facilities are encouraged to contact RMS Healthcare as soon as possible to begin the process and ensure their successful completion of the CMS requirements.

RMS Healthcare will work with your team as a NRAA preferred vendor for CAHPS® surveying to make the survey administration process as simple and worry-free as possible. Our dedicated staff of healthcare analysts, together with our in-house QualiSight Call Center, will administer your survey in a way that combines the professionalism needed to complete the task with the personal attention to both you and the patients you serve.

Celebrating 10 years of operations, RMS Healthcare continues to grow its consulting and survey business within the healthcare industry and assists numerous providers in measuring patient experiences through survey administration. RMS is a CMS-approved vendor of CAHPS® surveys.

If you’d like more information about CAHPS® surveying for ICH facilities or would like to learn more about how an NRAA preferred vendor like RMS can help you, contact our Business Development Director, Sandy Baker at SandyB@RMSresults.com or call her at 315-635-9802.

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