Patient Satisfaction:
You Can Revise CAHPS Tool To Fit Your Needs, CMS Says
Published on Tue Aug 25, 2009
Get started now to eliminate survey problems down the road. If you're dreading the 2011 implementation date for the new Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) survey tool, you aren't alone Each agency uses the patient satisfaction tool they want -- and the differences between tools can be vast. This leaves the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services without a reliable method to compare how well agencies are performing, points out Elizabeth Hogue, a health care attorney based in Burtonsville, Md. The new CAHPS tool is designed to eliminate that problem by "giving agencies a standardized tool that will allow surveyors to better gauge patient satisfaction," she says. Good news: While you and your patients will need to incorporate a whole new questionnaire, you can make the process a bit easier, said Elizabeth Goldstein, director of CMS' Division of Consumer Assessment & Plan Performance, in the Sept. 9 Home Health, [...]