Annual Update of the QAP due in April
folder_openOther Announcementscalendar_todayPosted March 20, 2012

Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey vendors are advised that the first annual update of the Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is due to the HHCAHPS Coordination Team on or before 5:00 PM Eastern Time on April 30, 2012. Survey vendors are requested to follow these procedures in submitting their annual update:

• Locate the version of the most recently revised QAP, that is, the version that was accepted by CMS and the Coordination Team, make a copy of that version, and then accept all tracked changes in that version, creating a clean copy of the QAP.
• Make any updates to this copy using track changes, so that track changes shown reflect only those updates you are making for this April 2012 submission.
• Updates should be made to a QAP if your organization has had changes in HHCAHPS Survey personnel, changes to protocols or procedures, or changes in approved survey mode. Remember that vendors must update their online Vendor Participation Form if they are dropping or adding survey modes prior to submitting their updated QAP.
• If your QAP does not follow the format shown in the revised Model QAP included in the Protocols and Guidelines Manual, Version 4.0, please reformat or organize the information in your updated QAP to match the format shown in the Model QAP. Also make sure that you provide information for every topic or issue included in the Model QAP.
• Before submitting your annual QAP, check it carefully to make sure that it reflects any protocols that have changed since your QAP was accepted. This includes any protocol changes that were disseminated via announcements posted on the HHCAHPS Web site and/or described in the Protocols and Guidelines Manual, Version 4.0.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact the HHCAHPS Survey Coordination Team via e-mail at hhcahps@rti.org or call toll-free at (866) 354-0985.