THE EMERGENCY ROOM VISIT – THE NEXT PHASE IN CAHPS®

In April 2016, CMS announced the 3.0 feasibility test for the Emergency Department was completed. The test included patients discharged from the ER directly back to the community. This test was conducted in several forms including; mail notification of an online survey; email notification of an online survey; email notification followed by mail notification and phone administration; and a real-time ED-distribution of a paper survey by hospital staff with a mail-in or phone option for completion.

WHAT IS EDPEC?

Formally known as EDCAHPS, the Emergency Department Patient Experience with Care (EDPEC) survey was developed by the American Healthcare for Research Quality to measure the experiences of patients (18 and older) with emergency department care. This includes patients admitted to the hospital following their emergency department visit and those visiting the emergency department who are discharged to the community. The surveys were developed following the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) principles and will eventually be publically reported on the Hospital Compare website. The reason for evaluating an emergency department’s experience is quite obvious since it is the ‘front door’ to a majority of hospital admissions. CMS also reports that emergency departments “handle 28% of all acute care visits in the U.S., half of all such visits by Medicaid and State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) beneficiaries, and nearly two-thirds of such visits among the uninsured”.

HCAHPS®

The Hospital Consumer Assessment for Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey was developed in 2005 by the AHRQ to help provide a standardized hospital survey regarding patient satisfaction. Results from the survey are publically reported to provide consumers comparative information so they can make an informed decision when selecting a hospital for their care. The HCAHPS survey is also one of four domains that are part of the Value Based Purchasing Program, which is used for Medicare reimbursement.

HELPFUL TIPS

• HCAHPS 101 – An introduction to HCAHPS (Revised 10.15.15)
• HCAHPS Top Box Methodology– Each measure that makes up the composites
• CMS Stars Ratings– How HCAPS Stars ratings are calculated

RESOURCES

• HCAHPS Phone Script (English) – AHRQ site on the survey as well as reporitng database
• HCAHPS Quality and Assurance Guidelines 13.0_March 2018
• hospitalcompare.hhs.gov – where to pull comparative hospital reports
• hcahpsonline.org – The latest information on HCAHPS programs including guidelines
• whynotthebest.org – Excellent resource for evaluating HCAHPS data

CMS REPORTS (HCAHPSONLINE.ORG) – RELEASED APRIL 2018

• Percentile Rankings Report
• Summary Analysis – States

CURRENT NATIONAL HCAHPS SCORES – REVISED MAY 2016

HOME HEALTH CAHPS®

Beginning in October 2010, Home Health agencies were required by CMS to participate in HHCAHPS surveys. Vendors must be certified by CMS to conduct these surveys on the Home Health agencies behalf. J. L. Morgan & Associates, Inc. is a CMS approved survey vendor. Survey vendors are very important for home health agencies, because per CMS, Home Health agencies are not permitted to conduct their own HHCAHPS surveys.

HELPFUL TIPS

• HHCAHPS 101 – Brief introduction to HHCAHPS

RESOURCES

• HHCAHPS Protocols and Guidelines 8.0
• HHCAHPS Questionnaire
• HomeHealthCahps.org – Official website for news and information on HHCAHPS
• HHCAHPS Stars Ratings – Spreadsheet of HHCAHPS Stars Ratings

OAS CAHPS®

J. L. Morgan is pleased to be a CMS approved vendor for the OAS (Outpatient Ambulatory Surgery or Services) CAHPS program involving CPT CODES 10021-69990.

This latest survey from CMS began with January 2016 encounters evaluating patient care for Hospital Outpatient (HOPD’s) and Ambulatory Services (ACS’s), as well as Critical Access Hospitals. The survey will cover topics such as professionalism of the staff, communication with the patient before and after the procedure, and preparations during the discharge process. As with all CAHPS® surveys, CMS will also evaluate overall satisfaction and the likelihood the patient would recommend the facility to friends and family.

Although CMS determined that 2018 would remain as a voluntary year for the Patient Satisfaction data collection – they will post their next proposal regarding the mandate in July of 2018 however – historically, facilities who volunteer and participate early typically outperform those that wait until the mandate and further, CMS has now begun to publicly report the scores of those facilities already participating in the program.

HELPFUL TIPS

• Introduction to OAS CAHPS – Slide show
• OAS CAHPS Informational Flyer
• OAS CAHPS Data Elements – Data layout for OAS submission to JL Morgan
• J. L. MORGAN awareness flyer
• J. L. MORGAN awareness flyer (Spanish)

RESOURCES

• OAS CAHPS Protocols and Guidelines
• OAS CAHPS Questionnaire – Official OAS CAHPS survey
• OAS WRITING UPDATE