This blog post was written by our guest blogger Michele Treinin, a Healthcare Analyst at RMS.

Are you a Dialysis Center in need of conducting the ICH-CAHPS® survey? There is still time to choose a vendor to complete the process for you even though the end of the year is quickly approaching. Research & Marketing Strategies (RMS) is a CMS approved CAHPS® vendor that can complete the surveying process for you. With our own QualiSight call center right on site (we provide both English and Spanish language services), we are able to start the process quickly and get your facility on track to being in compliance with the CMS requirement to complete the survey by December 31. After the surveying is completed, your facility will receive customized reports detailing the findings.

The whole process is simple; once your facility signs off with RMS to be your ICH-CAHPS® survey vendor:

• RMS will conduct a Kick-Off Meeting to detail the entire process and timelines. RMS will explain the entire process and our designated ICH-CAHPS® survey vendor account manager will go over all required deliverables and components, as well as both the responsibilities of RMS and your facility (or facilities).
• Your facility will send us your logo (for customized facility branding), required signatures and patient information so RMS can prepare the Introductory Letter mailing and survey sample to begin the surveying process.
• RMS will mail the Introductory Letter to your patients in advance of the telephone survey beginning, explaining the purpose of the survey and letting them know they will be contacted in the near future by the RMS Healthcare team on behalf of your facility.
• RMS will make up to 10 phone attempts over five to six weeks at various times of the day (9 a.m. to 9 p.m. during your time zone) and different days of the week (Monday through Saturday). Your facility should provide RMS with a dialysis schedule of each patient so we can customize our call schedule to work around times that the patients are at dialysis center, since we know they would not be at home to take the call during those hours.
• RMS will create a customized report for your facility detailing the findings on each survey category and all additional comments that your patients provided.
• RMS will provide you with all the necessary information for your facility’s attestation to CMS stating you completed the survey process during the calendar year 2012. You are required to submit this attestation to CMS by January 31, 2013.

If you are interested in finding out more about how RMS can help your facility as your ICH CAHPS® survey vendor, contact our Business Development Director, Sandy Baker at 315-635-9802 or email her at SandyB@RMSresults.com.