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Announcement

Marketing HHCAHPS to Home Health Agencies
folder_openChanges to Protocols and Guidelinescalendar_todayPosted December 14, 2009

This announcement is directed to all approved Home Health Care CAHPS Survey vendors. As you market your services to home health agencies (HHAs), either through outbound calls or in response to inbound inquiries, please be mindful of the following:

  • The Home Health CAHPS Team requests that you do not lead agencies to believe that they are “required” to conduct the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey. An agency’s participation in the survey is voluntary until the third quarter of 2010. Participation in the Home Health Care CAPHS Survey will be linked to the annual payment starting in the fourth quarter of 2010. Even after the Survey is linked to the annual payment update, agencies can decide whether they will participate in HHCAHPS (however, those that do not may risk not receiving their full annual payment update).
  • The Home Health CAHPS Team advises that you let agencies know that your organization is not the only survey vendor approved to administer the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey. As you know, there are more than 30 vendors approved to conduct HHCAHPS. As noted in the Final Rule published in the Federal Register on November 10, 2009, CMS recommends that home health agencies will “shop around” for the best value by researching as many vendors as possible that are listed on the approved list of Home Health Care CAHPS Survey vendors. You may not represent organization as the only survey vendor that CMS has approved to administer the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey.
  • Please direct home health agencies to the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey Web site for additional information and encourage them to send an e-mail to hhcahps@rti.org if they have any questions or want more information about the survey.
  • The Home Health CAHPS Team advises very small HHAs to look at the Web site in February 2010 for information about how to submit their number of eligible patients to be exempt from the requirement to do the survey for the CY 2012 annual payment update.