Procedures for Patients Reporting Incorrect Sampled Facility for the 2015 Spring Survey
folder_openChanges to Protocols and Guidelines, Other Announcementscalendar_todayPosted April 20, 2015

It has been brought to our attention that some in-center hemodialysis (ICH) facilities and ICH CAHPS Survey vendors are receiving calls from some sample patients reporting that they received a survey asking about an ICH facility from which they have never received outpatient hemodialysis. As you know, the sample was drawn from data provided by CROWNWeb. Some vendors experienced this issue during the 2014 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey; at which time the Coordination Team worked with CROWNWeb to determine the reason this issue occurs. At that time, we learned that this issue could be caused by a number of reasons, including changes in facility ownership or status (e.g, from public to private) or an issue with data entry (incorrect CCN entered in the CROWNWeb database), or for some other reason. We will continue to work with CROWNWeb to determine what, if anything, we can do to avoid this issue in upcoming survey periods.

Meanwhile, if you receive a call from a sample patient reporting that they received a survey asking about an ICH facility from which the sample patient has never received dialysis care, or you receive a call from an ICH facility reporting this issue on behalf of sample patients, please do the following.

1. Ask for the sample patient’s SID, the name (or CCN) of the facility that the survey is asking about, and the name (or CCN) of the ICH facility that the patient believes the survey should be asking about.
2. Instruct the patient to answer Q1 and Q2 in the questionnaire that he or she received. If the sample patient did not receive hemodialysis at the sample facility during the sampling window (at any time between October 1 through December 31, 2014) or does not currently receive care at the sampled facility, instruct the patient to answer “I do not currently receive dialysis at this dialysis center.” in Q2 in the survey and skip to Q45 and answer the remaining questions in the questionnaire. Ask the patient to return the completed questionnaire to the survey vendor in the business reply envelope that was included with the questionnaire.
3. Report the information requested in Item 1 above to the Coordination Team via an e-mail message. Do not include the patient’s name or any other identifying information in the e-mail message that you send to the Coordination Team. If needed, the Coordination Team will follow-up by telephone with you to obtain the patient’s name and address.

Also, as indicated in the ICH CAHPS Survey Administration and Specifications Manual, sample patients should call the survey vendor’s toll-free telephone number if they have questions about the survey. Please remind your ICH facility clients to ask any patients should who call with questions or issues about the survey to call the survey vendor. As indicated in the manual, ICH facilities can only tell their patients that they may be contacted and asked to participate in the survey; they should not attempt to answer patients’ questions about the survey.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Survey Coordination Team at 1-866-245-8083 or via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions.