Domain II: Data Collection

ACO CAHPS: Assessing Coordinated Care

Accountable care organizations (ACOs) are revolutionizing healthcare through integrated, coordinated, high-quality care. Hospitals, clinics, and other care settings are beginning to work together to reduce readmissions, minimize errors, and lower costs. ACO CAHPS was developed to help achieve these collaborative goals using a universal set of patient experience measures.In September 2013, CMS released the final rule for ACO CAHPS with the intent of assessing the experience of Medicare patients when visiting providers within ACOs over a period of six months. The questions seek to measure the patient experience in the following areas of care: · Getting Timely Care · Provider Communication · Rating of Provider · Access to Specialists · Health Promotion and Education · Shared Decision-Making · Health Status/Functional Status · Courteous/Helpful Office Staff · Care Coordination · Between Visit Communication · Education About Medication Adherence · Stewardship of Patient Resources Pioneer ACOs, the early adopters of the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP), completed an initial fielding of ACO CAHPS in early 2014. These ACOs, along with all other MSSP ACOs, will be required to survey in November 2014. For ACOs, this 81-question survey must be performed by a CMS-approved vendor via mixed-mode methodology; mail and phone. - See more at: http://www.nationalresearch.com/products-and-solutions/cahps/aco-cahps/#sthash.qCMRrDXd.dpuf

CGCAHPS: Improve Delivery of Patient-Centered Care

Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CGCAHPS) is an endorsed measure of the patient experience in a medical practice setting by the National Quality Forum (NQF). The survey evaluates ease of access to care, provider communication with patients, and courtesy and helpfulness of office staff. Measuring patient experiences at the practice and provider levels leads to patient satisfaction transparency and facilitates breakthroughs in preventive care and disease management. A Wealth of Knowledge Beyond Clinical Outcomes Studies have shown that the interpersonal aspects of healthcare are valued most by the average patient. In fact, clinical outcomes are not even included in the top 10 reasons why most patients choose providers. Research demonstrates that patients prioritize communication and other aspects of the provider-patient relationship as key elements of quality. If you want your medical practice to excel, patient experience matters. A CGCAHPS program can benefit your practice by: · Providing actionable feedback for improvement · Increasing patient compliance · Decreasing malpractice risk · Improving patient experience, loyalty, and referrals to boost your market share Patient-Centered Medical Home CAHPS® A supplemental item set available to CGCAHPS clients is Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH). This enables you to ask patients about their experiences with the domains of primary care that define a medical home. While the PCMH CAHPS survey instrument has many similarities to the Clinician and Group CAHPS survey, it also addresses specific processes of care relevant to patient-centered medical homes with the goal of measuring and improving care delivery. Survey versions for adults and children address components of care such as access, communication, self-management support, office staff, information and coordination of care. The adult survey includes questions regarding behavioral health care. The child survey also covers development and prevention. - See more at: http://www.nationalresearch.com/products-and-solutions/cahps/cgcahps#sthash.nvWDyz65.dpuf

HCAHPS: The Complete Picture

The Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) formal public reporting initiative mandated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) asks your patients to rate their experiences with respect to various healthcare delivery systems. These ratings are shared with the public, potentially affect your hospital's reputation and standing in the community it serves, and will be used in calculating your value-based purchasing payments going forward. With the results of patient experience surveys available for public scrutiny and reimbursement tied to these scores through value-based purchasing, HCAHPS scores are more important than ever. HCAHPS serves the public’s interest in improving the quality of care in America’s hospitals by providing consumers, healthcare professionals, and hospitals with standardized and comparable information on how patients view their quality of care experience. HCAHPS furnishes valid and reliable information on several critical aspects of the hospital experience on a continuous basis. In addition to gaining valuable information about your own care processes, participating hospitals are able to compare with other hospitals and the industry as a whole on exactly the same indicators. This information could be fed directly into the hospitals assessment and improvement program. The ongoing and standardized nature of the survey also allows hospitals to track changes in patient perspectives on care over time. The instrument is endorsed by major hospital associations and is strongly supported by leading healthcare and consumer organizations. The HCAHPS survey is part of the Hospital Quality Alliance. The public reporting of HCAHPS data was tied to the Annual Performance Update from CMS. Beginning July 2007, acute care hospitals that choose not to participate in HCAHPS measurement will see a 2 percent reduction of their market basket update.What is HCAHPS protocol? The HCAHPS Survey is designed to be completed by adult patients who had a recent medical, surgical or obstetrical visit to an acute care hospital. There are certain exclusions for patients who should not receive the survey. For example, patients with certain illnesses or diseases are excluded, as well as patients who are not alive at discharge. · All payor types are included in HCAHPS. Even though this is a CMS initiative, it is not focused on Medicare beneficiaries. · Patients under age 18 are not included in HCAHPS. · Specialty hospitals are not included in HCAHPS. Only general acute care hospitals are covered by the protocol. · Some patient exclusions are required. These include expired patients, most psychiatric cases, and patients who are discharged to hospice, etc. Exclusions are based on DRG and admit or discharge status. How is the survey administered? The HCAHPS protocol supports several modes of data collection. There are advantages and disadvantages for each mode. National Research Corporation will help you determine which mode is right for you. · Mail Only: An initial survey mailing to the sample followed by a second survey to non-respondents about three weeks later. · Mixed Mode: Using this approach, an initial survey mailing is distributed and then a phone call is made to non-respondents of the mail survey. · Phone Only: This protocol uses exclusively telephone to collect the results. Five survey attempts must be made to each selected patient. · IVR: IVR stands for Interactive Voice Response. Using this mode, patients will be contacted by telephone and then transitioned to an electronic survey they can completed with their touch-tone telephone. - See more at: http://www.nationalresearch.com/products-and-solutions/cahps/hcahps/#sthash.8OJRks8e.dpuf