HQA Preview Reports Are Now Available
For those hospitals who have not previewed their reports.
CMS posted the hospital-specific HCAHPS reports online for preview. The reports include HCAHPS measures for October 2006 – June 2007 patient discharges. All hospitals are encouraged to preview their report. If you have not previewed your report to date, please follow the steps below. There will be a help summary available. Please contact Quality Net Exchange at qnetsupport@ifmc.sdps.org if you experience problems previewing your reports.
▪ You may access your report: www.qualitynet.org
▪ Required role: QIO Clinical Warehouse Feedback Reports
▪ Report category: HQA Preview Reports
Corrected HQA Reports Now Available
For those who may have previewed your reports prior to January 25, 2008.
On January 25, CMS informed hospitals of errors in hospital-specific HCAHPS reports posted at QualityNet Exchange for preview. These reports contained an error in four of the composite scores. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a mathematical error dramatically reduced the proportion of patients who rate hospitals as “always” doing the right thing and inflated the proportion who rate hospitals as “usually” doing the right thing. The error affects composite scores 3-6, which deal with responsiveness of staff, pain management, communication about medications, and discharge information.
Corrected Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) Preview Reports were released on January 31, 2008 and are now available for hospital review. The revised reports correct the results displayed for the following four composites: Composite 3, "Responsiveness of hospital staff;" Composite 4, "Pain Management;" Composite 5, "Communication about medicines;" and Composite 6, "Discharge Information."
Hospitals are strongly encouraged to review these revised Preview Reports prior to the end of the scheduled preview period on February 15, 2008.
If You Cannot See Your Reports and/or Data
Some users have reported that they have been unable to view their reports at all, while others have been unable to view the actual data. The following suggestions may help to resolve these issues:
▪ Proper authorization: The individual running the reports must have HCAHPS reporting function permission. During the online process for viewing reports, be sure that the HCAHPS checkbox is selected in the “User Role Assignment” section.
▪ HQA authorization: If the above solution does not resolve your access issue, you may need to update your HQA Participation Form with QNet; simply follow the HQA links on the QNet website.
Please contact Quality Net Exchange at qnetsupport@ifmc.sdps.org or 1-866-288-8912 if you experience any difficulty accessing your hospital's Preview Report. You may also contact HCAHPS Technical Assistance at hcahps@azqio.sdps.org or 1-888-884-4007 if you have any questions.
Clarification on Footnote 8
CMS has also provided further clarification on Footnote 8. In the March 2008 release of the Hospital Compare website, CMS will re-word Footnote 8 as follows: “Survey results are not available for this reporting period.” This footnote will be used for the following conditions:
· When a hospital has other data on Hospital Compare but did not participate in HCAHPS; or
· When a hospital does not have enough months of HCAHPS data for public reporting purposes; OR
· When a hospital chose to suppress its HCAHPS results…
then Footnote 8 will appear in the bar graph and under the data table: “Survey results are not available for this period.”
Option to Suppress Public Reporting of Your HCAHPS Results
All hospitals participating in the HCAHPS initiative (both IPPS and CAH) will have the option of suppressing public reporting of their HCAHPS results in March 2008. Suppression of public reporting will not affect the FY2008 Annual Payment Update (APU) of IPPS hospitals; CAH hospitals are not paid under the IPPS system. IPPS hospitals are allowed to suppress their HCAHPS results because the March 2008 public reporting will include data that were voluntarily collected, not under the Fiscal Year 2008 APU requirements.
Participating hospitals (both IPPS and CAH) must have a completed Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA) pledge form on file in order to allow public reporting of their HCAHPS results. IPPS hospitals should also have a completed Reporting Hospital Quality Data Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU) Notice of Participation Form on file.
There will be a 30-day period in January-February 2008 during which participating hospitals will be allowed to inspect and, if they choose, suppress their HCAHPS results for public reporting in March 2008. During this 30-day preview period on www.qualitynet.org, hospitals with an HQA pledge on file will be able to view their HQA preview reports, which will contain HCAHPS results that will be publicly reported on www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov. Hospitals that have an HQA pledge on file will also have the ability to suppress HQA measures.
If a hospital chooses to suppress its HCAHPS results, it must suppress the complete set of HCAHPS results. Suppression of selected HCAHPS results or individual quarters will not be allowed. Hospitals choosing to suppress measures will only be able to do so during the 30-day preview period.
To suppress measures, a hospital must complete the “HQA Request For Withholding Data From Public Reporting” form found on www.qualitynet.org. This form lists all of the measures displayed on the preview report that will eventually be posted on Hospital Compare. Once a hospital has completed the withholding form, it should send the form to its QIO, who will then enter it into the system on behalf of the hospital. Hospitals can re-run their preview reports the following day to verify that their suppressions have been recorded.
HealthStream Research’s HCAHPS Support
HealthStream Research continues to follow the HCAHPS initiative closely on your behalf. Please feel free to contact us if you have additional questions. Below we have listed key contacts and other helpful information for your assistance. As always, thank you for the opportunity to support you in this very important initiative.
For questions or assistance at HealthStream Research:
For questions or assistance at Quality Net Exchange:
Quality Net Exchange at qnetsupport@ifmc.sdps.org
1-866-288-8912
Official HCAHPS Website for content, announcements, updates, & reminders:
http://www.hcahpsonline.org/
We encourage you to monitor this website weekly!