HH-CAHPS WEBINAR PART 1 Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC) Information

 MRHC Background  HH-CAHPS FAQ's and Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC) info  Information about the HH-CAHPS surveys  MRHC sample survey  MRHC sample report  MRHC website  HH-CAHPS reporting  Getting started with MRHC Table of contents

Why choose Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC)?  We make this process easier, flow smoothly and take the scariness out of it!  Great customer service  MRHC has over 11 years of experience with the patient satisfaction Survey  MRHC has been an approved CMS Vendor of the Hospital CAHPS survey for 4 years

Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative’s answers to Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services(CMS) most important questions…  Data Selection Mode: MRHC conducts Mail Only Survey Mode  Experience Level for Administering Surveys: MRHC has 11 years of survey administration experience, 4 years of experience reporting and administering the Hospital CAHPS survey to CMS  Average Response Rate for Mail Only Surveys: 30 to 50% return rate  Do we use subcontractors? No, administer all surveys in-house  What are the contract terms? Opt-out clause: One month notice is required, and the Facility is required to finish the remainder of the quarter that MRHC is currently processing surveys for and will be charged accordingly for that quarter. *Contact us for more details on the contract!

MRHC most important questions and answers continued…  What online/personal support is available? - Toll free hot line available - Quality managers direct number and address for assistance if needed. We respond to s within 24 hours - User friendly website for support  When can we start? We are accepting contracts immediately and can start at any time after the contract is signed!  How do you price your surveys? We have an annual fee and a per piece mailing fee, no set up charge or any other hidden charges!  We do not charge any fees for Add-on questions!! We also offer room for 7 additional personalized questions if your facility would like to add them!  We do not charge any fees for customized reports!!

What is included in the pricing?  What is included in our pricing? Included in pricing is: Printing of the cover letter, survey, pre-paid return envelope, and the envelope that we mail the survey in - Uploading the data to HH-CAHPS Quality Net at the end of the quarter - Negative comments that are written on the surveys are faxed immediately upon receipt - Final report that we upload to our website, can be viewed on your secure login at the end of each quarter -Typed comments of all surveys that we received at the end of the quarter-this will also be posted on your secure portion of the website -Customer service, toll free hotline, easy access to our website and your facility will have your own login to view all your data that will be uploaded

Questions? Please contact us to get started, or to answer any further questions. Also don’t forget to check out our website at Our staff at MRHC is focused on getting your facility started today! Call Heather (CAHPS Manager )at ext 10 or toll free at Or Gail (Member Services)

HH-CAHPS WEBINAR PART 2 Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC) Information

What is CAHPS? Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Family of standardized surveys that ask consumers and patients to report on and evaluate their experiences with health care. CAHPS Surveys Offered by MRHC Hospital CAHPS (MRHC Provides) Home Health Care CAHPS (MRHC Provides)

HH-CAHPS Survey Highlights..  HH-CAHPS survey contains 34 CMS Standardized questions about Home Health Care  Can add 7 customized questions to the HH-CAHPS survey  300 completed survey per year are recommended or as many as possible  Or must sample at 100% if they cannot achieve 300 returns

Why is HH-CAHPS is so important?  2% Reduction in Medicare reimbursement  HH-CAHPS will be reported to the public - Media Coverage - Promotion by agencies themselves  Standardized tool that allows the results to be publicly reported, in order to:  Allow the public to created “objective and meaningful comparisons between home health agencies”  “Create incentives for agencies to improve their quality of care.”  “(increase) the transparency of the quality of care provided.”

Who is required to participate?  Only Medicare - Medicaid Certified Home Health Agencies  Facilities that provide care to more than 60 non-duplicated Medicare/Medicaid patients annually  Each Provider with an ID number  Patient Eligibility Qualifications  18 years of age or older at any time during their treatment  Believed to be alive  2 skilled visits during the past 60 days and 1 skilled visit during the sample month  Not currently receiving hospice  Did not have maternity as the primary reason for home health care  Did not request “no publicity” status  Can only be sampled once every 6 months

How will the results be reported?  - Home Health Compare  Year’s worth of results online  Updated each quarter (this is rolling)  Industry, state, and specific agency comparisons available.

When do we actually need to start HH-CAHPS?  * January, February, and March Dry Run  Perfect time to start your dry run!  Start submitting the dry-run to CMS but this will not be publically reported  Agencies must participate in at least one month of the dry run to be eligible for national implementation.  Must use OASIS C variable  * April Nation Implementation  * July, August, and September 2010  Dry Run, suggested start date!  * October, November, and December 2010  October data will be reported to CMS  Data will be publicly reported on the Home Health Compare Website  Agencies must participate in nation implementation or they will lose a portion of their 2011 market basket update *All Contingent on Home Health PPS Final Rule

Questions? Please contact us to get started, or to answer any further questions. Also don’t forget to check out our website at Our staff at MRHC is focused on getting your facility started today! Call Heather (CAHPS Manager )at ext 10 or toll free at Or Gail (Member Services)

HH-CAHPS WEBINAR PART 3 Minnesota Rural Health Cooperative (MRHC) Information

Preparing for HH-CAHPS… Getting started for your facility!  Gather baseline data on your current patient satisfaction scores  Review your latest quarterly reports and comment reports  Review questions on your current survey that correlate with the HH-CAHPS questions  Provide measures to improve patient satisfaction  Build your staff’s awareness of the HH-CAHPS  Educate all staff regarding the HH-CAHPS survey and process  Utilize staff to encourage patient participation in the survey process  Discuss results and provide feedback

Survey Timeline for Agency Getting Started: #1.Contract with approved vendor: Determine initial Service Month, patient data submission methods and timelines. #2. Register for login credentials at and authorize approved vendor to collect and submit data on agency’s behalfhttps://homehealthcahps.org Deliver patient data to vendor according to timeline set Vendor Mails surveys by first Tuesday following the date we received patient Data Vendor Mails 2 nd wave surveys to non-responders  21 days later Surveys must be returned to vendor within 6 weeks of the 1 st mail date

CMS: HH-CAHPS Survey Guidelines  HH-CAHPS questions must remain in the specified order  No question or response can be altered in any way  CMS will provide questions in English and Spanish only  Cover letter must be included with survey  Required to use an approved vendor

Survey

Report Example Comparing with MRHC Co-op Avg for the first column the rest is just comparing the facility and previous quarters.  YOUR CARE FROM HOME HEALTH PROVIDERS IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS 9. In the last 2 months of care, how often did home health providers from this agency seem informed and up-to-date about all the care or treatment you got at home?

Website Screen shot

Questions? Please contact us to get started, or to answer any further questions. Also don’t forget to check out our website at Our staff at MRHC is focused on getting your facility started today! Call Heather (CAHPS Manager )at ext 10 or toll free at Or Gail (Member Services)