The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has certified ServiceTrac (a PracticeMax Company) as a HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) certified survey vendors. ServiceTrac adds this distinction to the CAHPS (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) certification for Home Health CAHPS acquired in 2017.
As a HCAHPS survey vendor, ServiceTrac can now conduct and facilitate HCAHPS survey programs for any hospital required to participate in the CMS program. This allows ServiceTrac to extend their robust reporting, consulting and service offerings to a hospital segment that has long been in need of advanced analytics and truly meaningful patient satisfaction improvement planning.
The stringent qualification process that CMS requires for HCAHPS vendors makes certification very difficult to achieve. It requires the highest level of research professionalism, system security, service capacity and a dedication to clients that most research firms never achieve.
ServiceTrac is unique in their ability to offer customizable survey questions along with CAHPS questions. This program, referred to as CAHPS+, allows hospitals and others the opportunity to comply with CMS requirements while also gathering important information that they find helpful in creating a better service experience for their patients. This program sets ServiceTrac aside from nearly every other HCAHPS vendor.
Background on HCAHPS
HCAHPS is a 32-item survey instrument and data collection methodology for measuring patients’ perceptions of their hospital experience. The implementation of HCAHPS means that common metrics and national standards are used for collecting and publicly reporting information about the patient experience and hospital care. HCAHPS enables valid comparisons to be made across hospitals locally, regionally and nationally.
Surveys are collected using mail, phone or mixed mode options and are required annually by CMS for eligible hospitals.
HCAHPS was developed with these three specific goals in mind:
- The survey is designed to produce data about patients’ perspectives of care that allow objective and meaningful comparisons of hospitals on topics that are important to consumers.
- The public reporting of the HCAHPS survey results creates new incentives for hospitals to improve the quality of care they provide to their patients.
- The public reporting of survey results serves to enhance the accountability of the hospitals in health care by increasing transparency of the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment.
Background on ServiceTrac
Since 1993 ServiceTrac has been a leading provider of customer satisfaction and employee engagement surveys in the senior living and healthcare space. As one of the largest providers of surveys to residents in assisted living, independent living, long term care, short term rehab and memory care, as well as their family members, ServiceTrac has a large national database of comparison data.
Having rolled out the industries best reporting platform (MaxIntel) in 2015, ServiceTrac is now known for having the most user-friendly survey results platform and the easiest to use action planning process. This platform ensures that all levels of users are given the information they need in a timely and relevant way. This robust reporting is only matched by the ServiceTrac commitment to engaging customer service. Each client is treated with respect, given opportunities to create a custom survey project to meet their needs and ensured top shelf training and consulting.
