HHCAHPS Basics
What is HHCAHPS?
CAHPS stands for Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. The definition of CAHPS can be found on http://www.cms.hhs.gov/cahps/
HHCAHPS is a survey of 34 questions specifically about home health, measuring patient satisfaction. It must be done by an approved HHCAHPS vendor, and is for all Home Health Agencies who provide care to more than 60 Medicare/Medicaid patients annually. As quoted on CMS's website, patients eligible for the HHCAHPS survey are those who are Medicare or Medicaid patients, and who:
- are at least 18 years of age at time of service and their home health care;
- have received at least two skilled care visits from agency personnel from April 1, 2009 through March 31, 2010;
- were not discharged to hospice care during the time of service;
- did not have "maternity" as the primary reason for receiving home health care; and
- did not request a "no publicity status."
- are Medicare or Medicaid payers
HHCAHPS is not mandatory. However, those who choose not to participate in HHCAHPS risk a 2% reduction in Medicare reimbursements. CMS has given the following reasons: (1) It will produce comparable data on the patient's perspective that will allow objective and meaningful comparisons between home health agencies on domains that are important to consumers. (2) Public reporting of survey results is designed to create incentives for agencies to improve their quality of care, and (3) Public reporting will serve to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of the quality of care provided in return for public investment.
The HH-CAHPS timeline:
Voluntary participation in HH-CAHPS began in November 2009 and goes through June 2010.
During third quarter 2010, HHAs who choose to comply with HHCAHPS are required to do a dry run for at least one month, and begin mandatory participation beginning in October.
When you begin your voluntary participation depends entirely on how soon you want results to review, and how many month's data you would like to review before your vendor is collecting results that will be made public. The more months you have to make corrections to the quality of your care, the greater position your agency will be in when results are published.
Pinnacle Quality Insight is an approved HHCAHPS vendor, and can assist with any questions you may have. Contact us directly at inquiries@mycahps.com or (801) 293-0700.
Visit the following websites for more HHCAHPS information:
http://hhcahps.blogspot.com
http://www.mycahps.com
http://homehealthcahps.org
Craig Christiansen
Vice President, Business Development
Pinnacle Quality Insight
www.mycahps.com
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