As a reminder, the deadline for submitting data files from the 2019 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey to the Data Center is at 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, which is only 2 weeks away. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not accept any data files after that date and time.

We strongly encourage vendors to begin submitting XML files as soon as possible following the end of data collection. Remember that vendors should submit their data files in time for them to correct and re-submit any files that do not pass the overnight validation checks.

Please feel free to contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

As a reminder, data collection for the 2019 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey ends on Friday, July 12, 2019. The deadline for submitting data files from the 2019 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey to the Data Center is at 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, July 31, 2019, which is only 3 weeks away. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not accept any data files after that date and time.

As XML files are uploaded to the ICH CAHPS Data Center a series of validation checks are made, one of which is a check to ensure that a patient-level record is included on the XML file for every case that was sampled for a CCN. Please note the following.

If the number of cases you include on an XML file does not match the number sampled, an error or warning message will appear on your data submission report. If the error message appears for one or more of your CCNs, please make sure that you have entered information about each sampled case on the XML file. Also be reminded that survey vendors:

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ICH CAHPS Survey vendors must submit all facility-specific supplemental questions that they plan to add to the 2019 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey to the Coordination Team for review and approval. If any of your in-center hemodialysis (ICH) facility clients are planning to add any new facility-specific supplemental questions to the 2019 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey, please send those questions and their proposed placement to the Coordination Team via e-mail at ichcahps@rti.org on or before 5:00 PM Eastern Time (ET) on August 9, 2019.

Please note that facility-specific questions that were approved by the Coordination Team for use in previous survey periods do not need to be approved again unless the questionnaire wording or response options have changed.

The Coordination Team will accept facility-specific supplemental questions for review after the August 9, 2019 deadline; however, approval of those questions may not be granted in time for the questions to be included in the...

The ICH CAHPS Team has published the 2019 July edition of the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team Semi-Annual Review (CTSAR). As a reminder, this newsletter is a way to provide in-center hemodialysis (ICH) facilities and survey vendors with helpful ICH CAHPS information.

The CTSAR will be posted on the ICH CAHPS website and updated every January and July. You can navigate to the 2019 July newsletter located under the General Information tab on the ICH CAHPS website or click here to view it now.

The CTSAR does not replace any source of information currently on the ICH CAHPS website; instead, it highlights important information for readers prior to each survey period. We encourage you to visit the ICH CAHPS website for more information on the items mentioned in this newsletter. Please continue to monitor the ICH CAHPS website for updates and announcements.

Please contact the Coordination Team via...

RTI International will be closed on Thursday, July 4, 2019. The ICH CAHPS Coordination Team will respond to email and telephone technical assistance inquiries that are received on that date as soon as possible after RTI re-opens on Friday, July 5, 2019.

Please contact the Coordination Team via e-mail at ichcahps@rti.org or call 1-866-245-8083 if you have any questions.

The tentative data collection schedule and the dates for some key activities related to the 2019 In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS (ICH CAHPS) Fall Survey are shown below. Please note that these dates are subject to change. Should a schedule change occur, an announcement will be posted.

Activity Date Submit New Facility-Specific Questions to CMS 8/9/2019 Deadline for Authorizing a Vendor for 2019 Fall Survey1 8/31/2019 Deadline (for vendors) to Review Vendor Authorization Report and Notify the Coordination Team of any Authorization Issues 9/4/2019   ...

RTI International will be closed on Monday, May 27, 2019 for the Memorial Day holiday. The ICH CAHPS Coordination Team will respond to email and telephone technical assistance inquiries that are received on that date as soon as possible after RTI re-opens on Tuesday, May 28, 2019.

Please contact the Coordination Team via e-mail at ichcahps@rti.org or call 1-866-245-8083 if you have any questions.

ICH CAHPS Survey results based on combined data from the 2017 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey and the 2018 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey were posted on Dialysis Facility Compare on the www.medicare.gov website in May 2019. Click here to see the state and national averages for the three ICH CAHPS composite measures and the three global ratings based on the combined data from those two survey periods. The average response rate for each state and the overall response rate are also provided in this document.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Survey Coordination Team at 1–866–245–8083 or via e-mail at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions about the ICH CAHPS Average State and National Scores.

The ICH CAHPS Survey results that are currently posted on Dialysis Facility Compare (DFC) on the medicare.gov website are based on ICH CAHPS Survey data from the 2017 ICH CAHPS Fall and 2018 Spring Surveys. The results shown are statistically adjusted for both data collection mode and for patient mix. Information about the adjustments made to the survey results and the coefficients used to adjust the results can be found here. Information presented in this document will allow ICH facilities to approximate the effect of patient mix adjustment on their ICH CAHPS Survey results that were posted on DFC in May 2019. In addition, this document (as well as all future iterations) now includes Appendix A: Additional Information on the Clustering Method Used to Create ICH CAHPS Star Ratings.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Survey Coordination Team at 1–866–245–8083 or via e-mail at ichcahps@rti.org...

This is a friendly reminder that the deadline for ICH CAHPS Survey vendors to submit the annual Quality Assurance Plan (QAP) is 11:59 PM Eastern Time on March 31, 2019.

The QAP must describe how the survey vendor will implement, comply with, and provide oversight of all survey and data processing activities associated with the ICH CAHPS Survey. To ensure prompt review and acceptance of your Update QAP, please follow the procedures listed below:

Locate the version of your most recently approved QAP; that is, the version that was accepted by CMS and the Coordination Team in 2018. Make a copy of that version and accept all tracked changes, creating a clean copy of your QAP. Make all 2019 updates to your clean copy using track changes, so that your document reflects only the changes made since your most recent approved QAP. Make sure to include updates to your QAP if your organization has had changes in ICH CAHPS Survey personnel, changes to protocols or procedures, and/or changes...