Your patients aren’t numbers. Neither should you be.

Healthcare technology continues to get bigger. Data platforms are getting bigger. Healthcare organizations are consolidating. Survey companies are consolidating. Budgets are getting pushed to bigger thresholds — while quality is consolidating.

But when you’re responsible for CAHPS^® survey administration, bigger isn’t necessarily better.

The better question to ask might be:

When something needs attention, does your CAHPS survey vendor know who you are?

For ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs), hospitals, home health agencies, hospices, dialysis facilities and other healthcare organizations, CAHPS surveying isn’t simply another technology subscription.

It involves your patients. Your patient experience. Your data. Your CMS requirements. Your public perception and performance. And, depending on the CAHPS program, potentially your reimbursement.

That deserves more than a login and a support ticket.

A CAHPS Vendor Should Be More Than a Data Platform.

Technology absolutely matters.

Effective survey administration requires secure systems (including HIPAA-compliance when dealing with PHI), accurate data processing, reporting capabilities and the infrastructure necessary to administer surveys efficiently.

But technology is only part of the job.

Behind every patient file are real patients. Behind every CAHPS score is an experience someone had with your organization. And behind every healthcare organization is a team trying to understand that feedback while meeting complex survey requirements.

That’s where the relationship with your survey vendor matters.

At Research & Marketing Strategies (RMS), we’ve built our approach to CAHPS surveying around something surprisingly simple:

People helping people collect better feedback from people.

Our healthcare team doesn’t simply administer surveys. We work alongside clients throughout the process — from implementation and survey administration to patient and staff engagement, reporting, data submission and understanding what the results mean.

If Getting an Answer From Your Survey Vendor Is Harder Than Getting Patients to Answer the Survey, We Should Talk.

CAHPS surveying can involve a lot of moving pieces.

Patient files. Sampling. Survey modes. CMS specifications. Deadlines. Data submission. Response rates. Reporting. Patient communication.

You shouldn’t have to figure out those pieces alone.

And you certainly shouldn’t have to wonder who to call when you have a question.

RMS works individually with healthcare organizations to prepare for survey administration, understand requirements and build a surveying process that works for their organization and patient population.

No disappearing into a support queue. No wondering who owns your account. No feeling like client #4,872.

Just experienced CAHPS professionals who know the process—and know their clients.

Better Response Rates Don’t Begin With the First Phone Call.

One of the most important parts of successful patient surveying happens before a survey ever reaches a patient:

Patients need to understand why their feedback matters.

RMS helps healthcare organizations prepare patients and staff for the survey process rather than treating patient engagement as an afterthought. That can include patient-facing awareness materials, staff education and guidance designed to help patients recognize legitimate survey outreach and understand how their feedback can help improve care.

RMS also operates its own call center and has extensive experience conducting effective and efficient CAHPS survey outreach.

It’s part of a larger philosophy: Don’t simply send surveys. Create an environment where patients understand why answering them matters.

OAS CAHPS Is About More Than Checking a Box.

For outpatient and ambulatory surgery organizations, OAS CAHPS measures important parts of the patient experience, including preparation for a procedure, check-in, facility cleanliness, communication with staff, discharge, recovery and the patient’s overall perception of the facility.

Those results can provide much more than a compliance requirement.

They can help answer questions such as:

• Are patients receiving the information they need before their procedures?
• Do patients feel staff communicate clearly with them?
• Are patients adequately prepared for discharge and recovery?
• Where are patient experiences falling short of expectations?
• How does our patient experience compare over time?
• What can we do to improve our survey response rate?
• Are patients willing to recommend our facility?
• What are patients telling us that our operational data cannot?

The value isn’t simply collecting the answers. It’s knowing what to do with them.

From Survey Administration to Action.

A survey report shouldn’t be where the conversation ends.

RMS helps clients understand what their patient feedback is telling them and where opportunities may exist to strengthen the patient experience.

That means looking beyond a score.

What patterns are emerging? Where are patients consistently satisfied? Where is there room for improvement? Are changes producing results over time?

The objective isn’t simply to produce more data. It’s to produce data your organization can actually use.

CAHPS Experience That Goes Back Decades.

RMS has been working in healthcare research and patient experience measurement since the early 2000s, with extensive experience administering CAHPS surveys across healthcare settings.

Our healthcare research team has also been nationally-recognized by Modern Healthcare as one of the United States’ top patient satisfaction measurement firms.

Today, RMS provides CAHPS and patient surveying expertise across multiple healthcare environments, including outpatient and ambulatory surgery, hospitals, home health, hospice, dialysis and other patient-care settings.

Our experience spans survey implementation, administration, data collection, fastidious adherence to HIPAA-compliant requirements, reporting, CMS requirements and data submission — as well as the part that can sometimes get lost in the process:

Helping our clients understand their patients.

Technology Can Administer a Survey. People Help You Make Sense of It.

Healthcare organizations should expect powerful technology from their survey vendors.

But they shouldn’t have to trade personal service for it.

You should know who is managing your survey program.

You should be able to ask questions.

You should understand what’s happening with your data.

And you should have a partner who cares whether your survey program succeeds, not simply if it’s plugged into the database.

Big enough to know CAHPS. Personal enough to know you.

If you’re evaluating your current CAHPS survey vendor, preparing for OAS CAHPS surveying or simply wondering whether your patient experience program could be working harder for your organization, let’s talk.

Your patients aren’t numbers. Neither are our clients.

Talk With an RMS CAHPS Expert.