Announcement about Inadvertent Selection of Duplicate Patients
folder_openChanges to Protocols and Guidelinescalendar_todayPosted February 25, 2011

As indicated on Page 35 of the Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey Protocols and Guidelines Manual, Version 3.0, home health patients who meet survey eligibility criteria can only be sampled once in a 6-month period. Survey vendors must check the sample frame for the current sample month against the samples selected for the preceding 5 months to identify patients sampled previously, and remove any patient who has been sampled in the previous 5 months from the sample frame.

Despite HHCAHPS Survey vendors’ best efforts, there may be instances where a patient is inadvertently sampled more than once in a 6-month period. If your organization inadvertently samples a patient more than once in a 6-month period, treat that patient as eligible for the survey. If the patient responds to the survey, assign the completed survey disposition code to the case. Similarly, if a patient sampled more than once in a 6-month period does not respond to the survey, assign the applicable non-interview disposition code to the case.