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Five Good Reasons Why CMS's New CAHPS®
Patient Satisfaction Survey Is Good for Agencies and
Good for Patients
CARING Magazine
April 2009
Dr. Robert Fazzi, Managing Partner
Gina Mazza, RN, BSN
Home care agencies are about to move
into a new reality, one where patients’ opinions
will matter… really matter. Get ready for CMS’s
new Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) program, an initiative
that will compare agency patient satisfaction scores
with those of other agencies in their area, their
state, and nationally.
RTI International, the group that CMS
contracted with to spearhead the initiative, announced
that the “national implementation of the new
CMS Home Health CAHPS® survey is expected to start
sometime in the summer of 2009 for Medicare certified
home health agencies.” Like Home Health Compare,
there will be “quarterly updates that publicly
report and compare agency patient satisfaction scores.”
There is also a strong indication that the CAHPS®
survey will be part of CMS’s pay for reporting
requirements.
What is CMS trying to do? First, they
want to produce data that will allow objective and
meaningful comparisons. Second, they intend to publicly
report the results thereby creating incentives for
agencies to improve. Third, they want to use this
data and “the comparative reports to strengthen
public and patient confidence by increasing the transparency
(through public reporting) of the quality of care
provided.”
What Does All
This Mean to Agencies?
According to RTI, agencies will need
to do three things:
- Use core questions that have been approved by
CMS. Agencies can also add their own questions.
- Contract with an approved vendor who will manage
the survey process. CMS is hoping to eliminate
bias and help to create consistency, objectivity,
and continuity in the survey process.
- Choose the method of surveying: mail, phone,
or mail and phone. The option is up to the agency.
CMS has set a target of 300 completed
surveys/agency. Those agencies that are not able to
achieve that annual target may still participate,
but their scores may not be reported. For more information,
click
here.
Why CAHPS® Is Good for Patients and Agencies
There are many reasons why the CMS initiative
is a good thing for agencies as well as patients.
Here are five:
- Comparisons Will Finally Make Sense:
Unless you presently contract with a national
patient satisfaction vendor, you don’t really
know what your scores mean. Is an overall score
of 89 good or bad? If you were part of a comparative
system, you would know. If your system’s
national average is 94, then 89 is not so good.
If the national average is 83, you are in good
shape. CAHPS® will let everyone know.
- Agencies – Good Agencies –
Will Win: There are agencies that focus
very heavily on patient satisfaction. Unfortunately,
other than word-of-mouth, they can’t point
to a public source that tells doctors, patients,
and patient family members how good and caring
they are. The national report will make this clear.
- Agencies Will Win in a Second Way:
Marketing! If you are a top performer on patient
satisfaction in your area, what are you going
to do? Leading agencies will surely use their
scores as a key marketing strategy. In fact, patient
satisfaction may quickly become the single, most
important marketing tool that an agency uses.
- Patients and Family Members Will Win:
Research clearly shows that patients
and family members cannot measure the clinical
quality of care. They don’t know if the
caregiver is doing a good clinical job or not.
What they can assess is how well they are being
treated and the CAHPS® will give them the
chance to express their feelings. And when other
patients and families are looking for a caring,
sensitive, and patient-centered agency, the local,
regional, state and national comparisons will
let them know.
- The Field Will Win: Home care
is an extraordinary service provided by extraordinary
people. National comparisons that show an industry
that is consistently viewed by their clients as
being exceptionally caring will generate greater
recognition and support by the public. We may
find that these high ratings are used by our advocates
in Congress to emphasize why home care deserves
greater support.
We are on the verge of a new era in
home care; one where the opinions of patients will
really matter and the aggressive customer focus by
agencies really pay off. For forward thinking agencies,
we are moving into an era where they will finally
be able to successfully use patient satisfaction as
a key market differentiate.
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About the Authors:
Gina Mazza, RN, BSN, is the Director
of Fazzi Associates National Patient Satisfaction
Benchmark Service and BestWorks®, Fazzi’s
National Operational, Financial, and Quality Best
Practice Improvement Service. She is an author of
numerous articles on quality improvement and a frequent
presenter at state and national trainings.
Dr. Robert Fazzi is the Founder and
Managing Partner Fazzi Associates. He is an author,
researcher and consultant who has provided consultation
and training to the home care and hospice community
for over thirty years.
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