Tips for switching your HHCAHPS vendor

Are you getting the most out of your HHCAHPS investment? Partnering with the right HHCAHPS vendor is critical to HHCAHPS score improvement.  If you are dissatisfied with your current vendor, consider switching.

Having the right HHCAHPS vendor can improve your scores.

Today’s competitive environment combined with proposed, shared-risk payment models, makes this a perfect time to think strategically about demonstrating your quality of care by leveraging HHCAHPS results. The HHCAHPS program captures valuable patient feedback for improving care delivery and the patient experience. Patient satisfaction scores are a leading indicator of success relating to better outcomes, making your agency more desirable to patients, referral sources, and partners. Look for a vendor who can provide guidance on where and how to improve and whose reports make this process easy for your staff.

Are you dissatisfied with your current HHCAHPS vendor?

Consider switching vendors if you are unhappy with your service.  Look for a partner that understands the home health industry. Consider how long the vendor has been providing satisfaction services to home care and how many other agencies have selected that vendor. Work with a vendor who makes the process easy, provides best practices, and offers a reasonably priced program with great customer service.

How often do the regulations allow me to switch vendors?

The HHCAHPS Protocols and Guidelines allow agencies to change vendors once a quarter, at the beginning of the quarter. It only takes a few minutes to change your authorized vendor using the homehealthcahps.org website. You also may need to cancel the business relationship with your current vendor – most contracts have cancellation clauses.

What if my current contract doesn’t terminate at the end of a quarter?

It may be better financially to begin working with a new vendor as soon as possible no matter when your contract ends – even in the middle of a quarter or month. We can help you work through the logistics and provide you with a price comparison so you can evaluate if switching to HEALTHCAREfirst is better for you financially.

Does my new vendor have to identify patients sampled in the last 5 months when I switch?

An update to the HHCAHPS Protocols doesn’t require the new vendor to be limited by this rule upon the change. Once the new vendor begins managing the process, they need to follow this patient eligibility criteria going forward. This protocol was changed due to privacy and confidentiality considerations of the patients.

Ready to Switch? It’s as Easy as 1-2-3.

Switching vendors is easy when you follow these steps.   Call us – we can help!

01 — Advise your current vendor that you plan to switch vendors.

You probably have a contracted agreement in place with your current HHCAHPS vendor.  It is important to understand any provisions for termination before you notify your vendor that you wish to switch vendors.

02 — Begin working with your new vendor to develop a transition plan for your agency.

Work with your new vendor to define the steps needed to ensure a smooth transition. Consider contract effective date, billing arrangements, survey set up, software vendor compatibility and data file transfer deadlines.

03 — Update your HHCAHPS vendor selection on the HHCAHPS website.

Use the online vendor authorization form to change the vendor name and end/start dates for data submission to CMS. Visit www.homehealthcahps.org for more information.

Why HHAs Prefer HEALTHCAREfirst

• Monthly Public Reporting Dashboards that are easy to understand help you improve scores months in advance of being published on Home Health Compare.
• Comment Alert! System immediately notifies your agency by email of any negative or serious comments for immediate action and follow up.
• Highly acclaimed, real time “Verbatim Comment Reporting” groups patient comments by topic and type for easy analysis of comments.
• HHCAHPS Benchmark reporting includes national level benchmarks that show how your agency compares with 1,800+ home health agencies – one of the largest HHCAHPS national benchmarks in the industry!
• Easy program implementation with friendly and responsive client services team guiding you through every step of the process.
• Training and education helps your teams with report interpretation and best practices for improving scores.

Learn more about our HHCAHPS survey program and contact us to get started!