requirement, you won't get a good sampling of your patient popula-
tion," says Ms. Benze.
4. Ease of interaction
You're responsible for providing vendors with complete, accurate and
valid patient files that contain required administrative information
with respect to how patients meet eligible survey criteria. You must
work with vendors to establish a HIPAA-compliant portal that lets
them extract patient data and mine the information to compile a sam-
pling of your patient population.
After discussions with vendors about pricing and the methods
they'd use to contact patients, Mr. Albertz settled on a vendor who's
based 10 miles from his facility. "We decided to go with a local
provider," he explains. "Working with a vendor requires some level of
integration with your facility's software. You can share patients'
records electronically anywhere in the country, but I figured it would
be easier to work with someone close by if issues arise."
5. Right-sized fit
The CMS-approved vendors have backgrounds in working with
healthcare providers, but that doesn't mean they're all equally quali-
fied to handle the specific needs of your facility.
"Partner with someone who understands surgery, who knows where
this program is heading with respect to our industry," says Mr. Albertz.
"It's important to work with a vendor who you can springboard ques-
tions off of and have a dialogue about the challenges you're facing."
For example, it might not make sense to sign on with a large compa-
ny that's known for conducting patient satisfaction surveys for large
health systems. "You don't need that level of work — and the fees that
go along with it — at the surgery center level," says Mr. Albertz. "Find
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