HCAHPS March 2012 Training Registration Now Open (01/30/2012)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will offer Introduction to HCAHPS and HCAHPS Update Training sessions the week of March 5, 2012. These training sessions are intended for hospitals that self-administer the HCAHPS survey, hospitals that administer HCAHPS for multiple sites (multi-sites), and survey vendors that participate in HCAHPS, as well as other interested individuals and organizations.
Introduction to HCAHPS Training (Session I and Session II) is designed for hospitals that intend to self-administer the HCAHPS survey and organizations that are interested in applying to become approved HCAHPS survey vendors, as well as a training/refresher course for new staff members at organizations that are currently approved to administer the HCAHPS survey. Introduction to HCAHPS Training is offered only once this year. Participation in both Session I and Session II is required. Session I will be offered on March 5, 2012 and Session II will be offered on March 6, 2012.
HCAHPS Update Training is required for all hospitals, multi-sites and survey vendors approved to administer the HCAHPS survey. HCAHPS Update Training for survey vendors and multi-sites is offered only once: March 7, 2012. HCAHPS Update Training for self-administering hospitals is offered twice: March 7 and March 8, 2012; self-administering hospitals should participate in only one of these two sessions. Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs) interested in attending HCAHPS Update Training should register for the survey vendor/multi-site training session on March 7, 2012.
CMS requires that subcontractors who are responsible for major functions of HCAHPS survey administration (e.g., sampling, mail/telephone/IVR operations) attend HCAHPS training. Survey vendors (and/or hospitals, if applicable) must ensure that their subcontractors participate in the appropriate HCAHPS training, Introduction or Update.
All HCAHPS training sessions will be conducted via webinar. There is no fee for either Introduction or Update training. Training materials for the 2012 HCAHPS Training sessions, as well as the newly revised HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V7.0, will be posted on the HCAHPS Web site (www.hcahpsonline.org) in late February 2012. Please note that the HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V7.0 will be made available on the HCAHPS Web site, and will not be provided in hard copy. Please click here for more information on the 2012 HCAHPS Training.
Please click here to register for the 2012 HCAHPS Training Sessions.
Training Registration will close on Monday, February 23, 2012
Please see the schedule below for training session dates and times:
[All times listed are Eastern Standard Time (EST)]
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2012 HCAHPS Training Sessions
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Monday —
March 5, 2012
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Tuesday —
March 6, 2012
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Wednesday —
March 7, 2012
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Thursday —
March 8, 2012
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Morning Session
(Eastern Standard Time)
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HCAHPS Update Training
For Self-Administering Hospitals Only (ATTEND ONLY ONE HCAHPS Update
Training Session)
9:30 AM to
11:45 AM EST
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Afternoon Session
(Eastern Standard Time)
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Introduction to HCAHPS Training
Session I
1:00 PM to
5:00 PM EST
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Introduction to HCAHPS Training
Session II
1:00 PM to
5:00 PM EST
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HCAHPS Update Training
For Survey Vendors and
Multi-sites Only
1:30 PM to
3:45 PM EST
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HCAHPS Update Training
For Self-Administering Hospitals Only (ATTEND ONLY ONE HCAHPS Update
Training Session)
1:30 PM to
3:45 PM EST
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The agenda for Introduction to HCAHPS Training includes:
Welcome and Overview
Background & Development of the HCAHPS Survey
Participation & Program Requirements
Sampling Protocol
Survey Administration
Telephone & Active IVR Training
Exceptions Requests and Discrepancy Reports
Data Coding
Data Preparation Process
Data Submission via My QualityNet
Data Adjustment & Public Reporting
HCAHPS and Hospital Value Based Purchasing (HVBP)
Oversight Activities
Questions & Answers
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The agenda for HCAHPS Update Training includes:
Welcome and Overview
Program Updates
Updates on Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAG) V7.0
Sampling Refresher & Quality Checks
HVBP Timeline & Calculations
Questions & Answers
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Interested in how HCAHPS Scores are calculated? A slide presentation illustrating how scores are calculated has been place on the Technical Specifications page.
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The Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov) has been refreshed. HCAHPS scores include April 2010 through March 2011 data collection.
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The following tables have been added to the HCAHPS Web site Summary Analyses Page:
- January 2012 Summary of HCAHPS Survey Results Table
- January 2012 HCAHPS Percentiles Table
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Beginning in January 2012, CMS will institute a Review and Correct Period for the submission of HCAHPS data. As previously announced, the HCAHPS data submission deadlines have been moved one week earlier to accommodate this Review and Correct Period. The deadline for submitting 3Q2011 HCAHPS data is January 4, 2012. Beginning January 5, 2012, hospitals and survey vendors will have access to a Review and Correct Report via My QualityNet. Access to the Review and Correct Report is similar to the process for accessing other HCAHPS Warehouse Submission and Feedback Reports.
The Review and Correct Report will contain the frequency of valid values submitted for a hospital for each month in the submission quarter. Survey vendors/hospitals are strongly encouraged to review this report for possible data errors. If errors are identified in the 3Q2011 HCAHPS data that had been submitted, survey vendors/hospitals will have an opportunity to upload corrected files by following the current process for uploading corrected HCAHPS data submission files. The deadline for uploading corrected HCAHPS data submission files is January 13, 2012.
Please note: The Review and Correct Period is only for correcting previously submitted data. No new data files will be accepted.
After this initial Review and Correct Period, the Review and Correct Report will be available shortly after the submission of HCAHPS data. That is, survey vendors/hospitals will not need to wait until the next Review and Correct Period to access this report.
Please see the QualityNet Reports User’s Guide for more information.
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2012 Data Submission Deadlines Moved Forward by One Week and One Week Review and Correct Period Implemented
To accommodate the Hospital Value Based Purchasing (VBP) program’s Review and Correct period, CMS has moved the HCAHPS Data Submission Deadlines up by one week. Following the HCAHPS Data Submission Deadline, hospitals self-administering the HCAHPS survey and HCAHPS survey vendors will have a one week opportunity to correct data previously submitted for the quarter. The Review and Correct period is only for correcting previously submitted data and cannot be used to submit new data records.
The process for submitting corrected data will be the same as the current process used for correcting data. During the Review and Correct Period only administrative data and survey record data can be corrected.
A new Review and Correct Report summarizing the data submitted to the HCAHPS Data Warehouse will be made available to hospitals and survey vendors in the Review and Correction period. These reports will be accessed through My QualityNet similar to accessing the existing HCAHPS Data Warehouse Submission and Feedback Reports.
More information regarding the Review and Correct Period will be posted on the HCAHPS Web site as it becomes available.
The 2012 HCAHPS Data Submission Deadlines are as follows:
- April 4, 2012 is the data submission deadline for patients discharged in October, November, and December 2011 (4Q11). December 2011 Dry Run data must also be submitted by this date.
- April 5 - 11, 2012 Review and Correct Period
- July 3, 2012 is the data submission deadline for the patients discharged in January, February, and March 2012 (1Q12). March 2012 Dry Run data must also be submitted by this date.
- July 4 - 11, 2012 Review and Correct Period
- October 3, 2012 is the data submission deadline for patients discharged in April, May, and June 2012 (2Q12). June 2012 Dry Run data must also be submitted by this date.
- October 4 - 10 Review and Correct Period
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The HCAHPS Project Team has revised the electronic Discrepancy Report form. Please note that the contact information section of the report has been shortened and a hospital section has been added which allows information to be submitted about each hospital that was affected by the discrepancy. The new form is now available for use. Please click on the Exceptions/Discrepancy left hand navigation button to access the Discrepancy Report form.
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A document listing the Public Reporting periods through October 2012, is now available. Please note that the dates of future preview periods and public reporting are estimates based on current timetables and thus are subject to change. Please click here or on the left hand Technical Specifications navigation button for more information.
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The Patient-mix Coefficients for the January 2012 HCAHPS results are now available. Effective July 1, 2010, the “Point of Origin for Admission or Visit” code for Emergency Room (code 7) was discontinued for use by Medicare Systems. As a result, the patient-mix variable ER Admission was not included in the calculation of HCAHPS scores for the second and third quarter 2010, nor will it be included in subsequent quarters. This means the four-quarter average that forms the scores for January 2012 public reporting does not contain a quarter that includes ER Admission as a patient-mix adjuster. Please click here.
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During the March 2011 HCAHPS Training sessions the issue of how CMS weights quarterly HCAHPS scores was raised. At the time, the HCAHPS Project Team (HPT) noted that the four calendar quarters that are rolled-up to produce HCAHPS scores are weighted equally, rather than proportionately to each quarter’s number of eligible patients. We noted that this approach was based on production timeline constraints but promised to further examine this matter.
Empirical analysis conducted by the HPT since then indicates that the difference between the equal weighting approach and proportional weighting is very small. More specifically, HCAHPS scores under the two weighting approaches correlate at levels between 0.995 and 0.999, with very small and unsystematic differences. However, we recently developed the means to integrate the proportional weighting approach within our production timeline constraints. Therefore, we will introduce the proportional weighting approach beginning with the January 2012 public reporting of HCAHPS scores on the Hospital Compare Web site, which encompasses patients discharged between April 2010 and March 2011. As noted above, the average effect on HCAHPS scores as a result of this change will be quite small.
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