The national patient satisfaction initiative, better known as HCAHPS®, is now in its final stages of implementation since being approved by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Training will be conducted in early February for approved vendor and hospital participants, both by on-site training at CMS headquarters and a series of web seminars.
The Jackson Group will have representatives attending this training at all phases. When a hospital decides to work with an experienced, approved vendor to provide HCAHPS® services, then there is no requirement for anyone from your organization to attend this training. Your vendor would handle all aspects of training, implementation and submission of data on a continuous basis.
After the training is complete, CMS will conduct a "dry run" of data collection in the spring for patients discharged in April and May. It is important to note that any hospital planning to take part in HCAHPS® during the coming year must participate in the dry run. Data from the dry run will not be publicly reported. After the dry run data are reported and analyzed, data collection will begin in the fall and the first public reporting will be in 2007.
For more information on HCAHPS®, please visit our web site at www.thejacksongroup.com/hcahps or visit the official federal government's site at www.hcahpsonline.org.
We would appreciate the opportunity to speak with you about HCAHPS® and patient surveying in general. If you have any questions about anything in this letter, please feel free to contact us at (800) 554-0373.
The Jackson Group looks forward to playing an integral role in your organization's participation in this important initiative.
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