Did you know that CMS (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) allows hospitals to change their approved HCAHPS® survey vendor on a quarterly basis? That means you can select a new HCAHPS® vendor at four different times during the calendar year. This depends on the current contract you have with your vendor, but if you came across this blog post perhaps you are at least considering changing your HCAHPS® vendor.
Here are five benefits of changing your HCAHPS® vendor:
1) “I got a higher response rate with my new vendor, and it reduced our costs.”
Do you know what kind of response rate your vendor is providing for you? The United States average response rate for hospitals was 33%, while the New York State average was 30%. Here at Research & Marketing Strategies Inc. (RMS) – our response rate outdid both – to the tune of 39% (almost 10 percentage points higher than the national average). With our pricing options, which include both a per patient surveyed or per completed survey, we might be able to reduce your costs while at the same time offering you more return.
2) “I was just a number with my old vendor; my new HCAHPS® vendor treats me like Priority A.”
When you hire a large vendor to do your HCAHPS® surveying, you might get lost in the shuffle. RMS has a lot of clients who tell us that they were never given attention or were never able to find any answers with their old vendor. As a growing business ourselves we give each of our HCAHPS® clients the attention they deserve, whether they have 50 beds or 1,000 beds. We partner with your hospital team and view ourselves as your back-office team.
3) “I had to sign a three-year contract with my old vendor; my new vendor term is much shorter.”
Some national HCAHPS® vendors lock you into contracts that last longer than you would have liked. Therefore, once they have you signed, you don’t have the flexibility to look elsewhere to change your HCAHPS® vendor if you are unsatisfied. Our HCAHPS® contracts require just a six-month commitment from our hospitals. Our healthcare team trusts in the work we do and we are confident that clients will continue to work with us on an ongoing basis no matter what term each contract is.
4) “My new HCAHPS® vendor discusses findings and action items with me from the data.”
We have a lot of clients who told us they used to get a ton of data from their old vendor. The only problem is the vendor used to just send the mail, deliver the hard data, but never offer to assist with analysis and recommendations. Our healthcare team has a vast knowledge and background in healthcare beyond just HCAHPS®. With other market research work being conducted for hospitals such as Image & Awareness Studies and Access to Care Studies to name a few, we can offer you our perspective on your data and help you take action to improve your patient care. RMS doesn’t stop with just the data.
5) “I like how my new vendor was able to bundle all of our surveying, beyond just HCAHPS®.”
Another benefit of changing your HCAHPS® vendor and finding the right one is the ability of that vendor to manage your other surveys, not just HCAHPS®. RMS has the ability to bundle your services with an aggregate discount. The healthcare team can handle your ER surveying, outpatient surveying, ambulatory surveying, physician surveying, employee surveying, CG-CAHPS® and others. Bundling all of these together using the same vendor will not only save you time and make it easier to manage, but will also save your hospital money.
Are you interested in changing your HCAHPS® vendor for the next quarter? Contact our HCAHPS® Business Development Director, Sandy Baker, at SandyB@RMSresults.com or give us a call at 1-866-567-5422.
