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Announcement

HHCAHPS Preview Reports
folder_openInformation for Home Health Agencies, Public Reportingcalendar_todayPosted March 23, 2012

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin publicly reporting results from the Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey on or after April 19, 2012. Medicare-certified home health agencies (HHAs) will be able to “preview” their results via a Preview Report, which will be posted on the HHCAHPS Web site on April 3, 2012. The following are some questions and answers about the Preview Reports. More information about the results that will be publicly reported will be posted on the HHCAHPS Web site on April 3, 2012.

Questions and Answers about the HHCAHPS Preview Report

  1. Who will have access to an HHA’s Preview Report?
    Will an HHA’s approved HHCAHPS Survey vendor have access to the HHA’s Preview Report? HHAs participating in the HHCAHPS Survey will have access to their own reports. The Preview Report will not be available to the HHCAHPS Survey vendor or to anyone other than the HHA. If an HHA wants to share its Preview Report with its HHCAHPS Survey vendor or with anyone else, it can export the results to a Microsoft Excel File and distribute it.
  2. How does an HHA access its Preview Report?
    The Preview Reports will be posted on the secured (private) link on https://homehealthcahps.org. To access your agency’s Preview Report, log into the HHCAHPS Web site using your username and password. Select the “Preview Reports” link under the “For HHAs” tab. The system will then display the HHCAHPS survey results. If you have forgotten your username and/or password, click the Login link, then click “Forgot Password.” The HHCAHPS Coordination Team will send your username and password to you via an e-mail message.
  3. What results will be shown in the Preview Reports?
    For each CCN, the Preview Report will show the results for each variable and measure shown below: More information about the measures that will be publicly reported is available in Chapter XIII of the HHCAHPS Survey Protocols and Guidelines Manual.
    • The number of patients who were sampled during the reporting period and the number who responded to the survey;
    • The percentage of patients who rated the home care they received a 9 or 10 on a scale of 0 (worst care possible) to 10 (best care possible);
    • The percentage of patients who reported that they would be willing to recommend the HHA to family or friends;
    • The percentage of patients who reported that their home health team always gave home care in a professional way;
    • The percentage of patients who reported that their home health team communicated well with them; and
    • The percentage of patients who reported that their home health team discussed medicines, pain, and home safety with them.
  4. Which sample months will the results that will be publicly reported represent?
    That is, what is the 12 month reporting period? The results that will be publicly reported in April 2012 will be based on HHCAHPS Survey response data from patients who received skilled home care from October 2010 through September 2011.
  5. My agency participated in the HHCAHPS Survey, but there are no results shown. Why?
    HHCAHPS Survey results will be publicly reported when an HHA has 4 quarters of HHCAHPS Survey data. An HHA must have had survey response data (patients who responded to the survey) in all 4 quarters included in the public reporting period for results to be publicly reported.
  6. How often will HHCAHPS data results be posted on Home Health Compare?
    The results, which will be posted on the Home Health Compare link on the Medicare Web site at http://medicare.gov, will be refreshed quarterly, with data from the oldest quarter being replaced by data from the most recent quarter of the HHCAHPS Survey.
  7. When is the Preview period?
    HHAs participating in the HHCAHPS survey will be able to preview their survey results each reporting period (quarterly) on the HHCAHPS site at least two weeks prior to when the HHCAHPS survey results are publicly reported on Home Health Compare.

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.