Solutios Library AMGA/AVATAR CAHPS for PQRS Survey Program Leslie Babecki, CAHPS Maager, Avatar Solutios Webiar, August 28, 2015
Sice the Agecy for Healthcare Research ad Quality lauched the CAHPS iitiative i 1995, several variatios to the core Cliical ad Groups (CG-CAHPS) survey have emerged: a Medical Home versio, a six-moth versio, ad more. I this webiar, Babecki walked through the CAHPS for Physicia Quality Reportig System (PQRS) Survey that Avatar Solutios, a approved CAHPS vedor, will be admiisterig with AMGA begiig i November of 2015. CAPHS for PQRS public reportig helps Medicare beeficiaries make meaigful decisios o aspects of care that are importat to them. Leslie Babecki, Avatar Solutios The 80-item survey will probe patiet experieces i a variety of areas: access to specialists, health educatio, care coordiatio, office staff courtesy ad helpfuless, provider commuicatio ad listeig skills, ad medicatio compliace. Core CAHPS + Supplemetal 2
CMS will report survey results to each group via a Excel worksheet of Summary Survey Measures (SSM) scores plus respose rate iformatio. Sice 2014, reports for each practice excludig data o health ad fuctioal status have bee posted olie at www.cahpsdatabase.ahrq.gov/ cahpsidb. Public reportig is iteded to improve accoutability by icreasig trasparecy, Babecki said. For This Year s Survey Practices of 100+ providers who have elected to participate i the GPRO (Group Practice Reportig Optio) must participate at the group level. Practices of 2-99 providers may participate. CMS will ot bear the cost of survey admiistratio; all practices must bear this cost. Iformig Beeficiaries ad Staff Data collectio starts i November 2015. As with other CAHPS surveys, group practices will be allowed to otify beeficiaries that they ll be asked to participate, that the results are iteded to improve care, ad that more participatio results i better data. This ca help boost Participats will be required to cotract with a approved vedor. You ca t admiister this yourselves, Babecki said. As a approved CAHPS vedor, Avatar will: Admiister the survey via CMS stadardized mixed-mode approach: two mailigs of a preotificatio letter, ad telephoe survey with up to six follow-up call attempts if mailigs have ot resulted i a survey completio Why Participate? Avoidig a -2% 2017 PQRS paymet adjustmet is just oe reaso for participatig i the AMGA/Avatar CAHPS for PQRS survey program. Orgaizatios also will have the opportuity to: Offer the survey i Eglish, with the optio coectig participats to a Spaish traslatio of the survey Support a toll-free hotlie for questios Submit data to CMS o behalf of practices by specified deadlies Stregthe their ability to bechmark ad assess the quality of patiet care Improve this care over time Cotribute to publicly reported data that helps cosumers evaluate ad choose healthcare optios Ehace public accoutability by icreasig the trasparecy of these quality of care metrics For each practice, CMS will select 860 Medicare beeficiaries (or fewer, for smaller practices) from patiet ecouters i the first three quarters of 2015. Beeficiaries must be 18 years or older; live i the Uited States, Puerto Rico, or the U.S. Virgi Islads; ad ot be curretly istitutioalized or otherwise ieligible. 3
respose, Babecki said. She cautioed, however, that certai promotioal commuicatios are t permitted because they could itroduce bias. For istace, you ca t imply that a group practice will be rewarded or gai beefits because of participatio or offer icetives like restaurat coupos or movie theater tickets to participate. Let people kow the survey s goig to happe. Leslie Babecki, Avatar Solutios As much as you re focused o otifyig your patiets ad submittig paperwork, make sure to have the coversatio about the survey i your practice, too, Babecki said. employees kow what will be asked, why it s beig doe, ad the beefit to the practice. You ll get better adoptio, be ready for the results, ad there will be o surprises, which i the medical world is a good thig, she said. She recommeded that participats share the survey istrumet throughout their practices so Helpful Olie Resources CMS s CAHPS for PQRS Website: www.pqrscahps.org 2015-2016 PQRS Mail Survey: www.pqrscahps.org/survey-istrumets Group Practice Iformatio: www.pqrscahps.org/iformatio-for-group-practices 2015 PQRS List of Eligible Professioals: www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-iitiatives-patietassessmet-istrumets/pqrs/dowloads/2015_pqrslist_of_eligible_professioals.pdf CMS PQRS Page: www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-iitiatives-patiet-assessmet-istrumets/ PQRS/idex.html CAHPS for PQRS Made Simple: www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-iitiatives-patiet-assessmetistrumets/pqrs/dowloads/2015pqrs_cms-certifsurveyvedormadesimple.pdf 4
Questios from the Audiece Q: We have 150 locatios ad oe tax ID how will our results be reported? A: Typically reportig is doe at the tax ID level, but check with CMS first. Q: Is the patiet data for samplig submitted to Avatar or from CMS? A: Data goes from CMS to Avatar. There s othig about preparatio of the data files that the practice eeds to be ivolved i. Q: If a practice is a ACO participatig i ACO CAHPS do they also have to participate i CAHPS for PQRS? A: If the ACO is usig the group practice reportig optio for the ACO (ad ot for a group practice that also participates i the ACO), you will ot eed to collect both CAHPS for ACOs ad CAHPS for PQRS surveys. The ACO would coduct CAHPS to meet your Shared Savigs Program patiet experiece requiremet, ad the ACO would report the measures that are collected via the ACO Group Practice Reportig Optio (GPRO) web iterface. Please visit the GPRO web iterface page for the ACO GPRO measures documets: www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-iitiatives-patiet-assessmetistrumets/pqrs/gpro_web_iterface.html. Q: If there s a Medicare Secodary Payer (MSP) ACO, does that take the place of CAHPS reportig or do they eed to do both? A: Orgaizatios should check with the specific programs to receive clarificatio o which survey efforts they are required to participate i. If the ACO is usig group practice reportig for ACO, it would ot eed to collect both ACO ad CAHPS data. The ACO would collect ad report the measures via ACO reportig ito the PQRS Group Practice Reportig Optio iterface. Q: If you re coductig a cliicia ad group CAHPS survey o top of PQRS, will you eed to have your vedor dupe it agaist CMS (because you re ot allowed to sed the same people two surveys at the same time)? A: CMS does ot explicitly prohibit survey vedors ad group practices from admiisterig surveys at the same time as the CAHPS for PQRS survey. It is ecouraged that group practices do ot ask similar questios of beeficiaries the four weeks prior, durig, ad the four weeks after CAHPS for PQRS admiistratio. This does ot apply to other CAHPS efforts. 5
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