believed to be a question of when, not if. Medicare will update its pro-
posed OAS CAHPS rule next month, issue a final rule in November
and could finally launch the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare
Providers and Systems Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Survey on
Jan. 1, 2019.
OAS CAHPS survey vendors will charge surgical centers and hospital
outpatient departments a reported $10 to $25 per completed survey.
They'll ask your Medicare patients 37 questions about how well they
were treated before, during and after their procedures — as well as
their highest level of education and primary language. Here are impor-
tant factors to weigh as you compare vendors.
1. Collection method
As the pay-for-reporting program is currently structured, CMS-
approved vendors will contact your patients with a telephone call, a
mailed survey or with a mailed survey and follow-up phone call. No
email. "I don't think much will change from the original proposed rule,
except hopefully the addition of an electronic version," says Crissy
Benze, MSN, BSN, RN, senior consultant at Progressive Surgical
Solutions, a division of BSM Consulting. "Start reaching out to ven-
dors now to gather information about their services and decide which
one you're going to partner with."
The addition of an e-mail option might add another variable to con-
sider, but still ask vendors how they will contact your patients and
decide which option is best for your facility and patient population,
says healthcare attorney Mark Weiss of Santa Barbara, Calif.
Mr. Weiss says working with a vendor that relies exclusively on
paper surveys creates a potential issue. Will patients throw them away
and not respond, preventing your facility from collecting the 300 com-
pleted surveys a year that CMS requires? If you're already sending out
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