CMS posted a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey Vendor Authorization Form on Oct. 22.
 
The form authorizes a vendor to collect data for the hospice as part of CMS’ first official hospice satisfaction survey. The vendor will submit data to CMS on the hospice’s behalf.
 
Hospices must complete the form and submit it to CMS’ contractor, the RAND Corporation in Arlington, Va., by May 1, 2015.
 
Hospices must spend at least a month during the first quarter of 2015 testing the survey, and on April 1, 2015, must begin submitting information to vendors on a monthly basis. Failure to contract with a CMS-approved vendor to submit data from the 47-question survey will result in a 2% payment reduction starting in 2017 (HHL 7/21/14).
 
CMS will consider the hospice employee who completes the authorization form the hospice’s “CAHPS Hospice Survey Administrator,” the survey’s website states.
 
Within the form, hospices also should designate a person to serve as the main point of contact with the CAHPS Hospice Survey Project Team. That hospice employee would review data submissions by the vendor.
 
The form must be notarized and signed and dated in a notary public’s presence. The person signing the form will be responsible for notifying CMS and RAND immediately if the hospice no longer authorizes its survey vendor.
 
The person also will be responsible for notifying the CAHPS Hospice Survey Project Team if her role as hospice survey administrator will no longer be valid.
 
Related link: Get the authorization form and the updated list of approved vendors at www.hospicecahpssurvey.org.
 
Send completed and notarized forms to:
RAND Corporation
ATTN: Melissa A. Bradley
CAHPS Hospice Survey
1200 S. Hayes St.
Arlington, Va. 22202
 
If sent by Federal Express, UPS or other overnight delivery service:
Add phone: 703-413-1100 extension 5614