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3 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 7
• Hospitals. Beginning this
year, Medicare is tying 2% of
reimbursements to results of
the HCAHPS (Hospital
Consumer Assessment of
Healthcare Providers and
Systems) customer satisfaction
survey (hcahpsonline.org). The
32-question survey is adminis-
tered to a random sample of
patients continuously throughout the year. CMS publicly reports
the results, and pays out the bonus money accordingly. Each year,
only hospitals with high patient-satisfaction scores and a measure
of certain basic care standards will earn that money back, and the
top performers will receive bonus money from the pool.
• ASCs. Beginning in 2018, for ASCs to receive the full annual
update to their annual payment rate for that year, they must fulfill
the reporting requirements of the Ambulatory Surgical Center
Quality Reporting (ASCQR) program. Initially, ASCs will be considered
to be in compliance when they contract with an appropriate vendor
and collect the required number of completed surveys, says the
Ambulatory Surgery Center Association (ASCA), adding that
Medicare payment determinations will be made based only on com-
pliance and noncompliance, not on the scores the ASCs receive from
patients. ASCs that don't meet the reporting requirements, including
allowing the data to be publicly available, may incur a 2.0 percentage
point reduction to any payment update for that year. Participation in
PAY FOR PERFORMANCE
How Patient Satisfaction Impacts Reimbursement
• PERCEPTION OF CARE Patient satisfaction now factors
into Medicare reimbursement for surgical facilities.