CMS requires patient experience measures for hospital outpatient departments and ambulatory surgical centers

08 November 2021

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) last week published the 2022 Outpatient Prospective Payment System (OPPS) and Ambulatory Surgical Center (ASC) Payment System Final Rule.

As part of the new policy roll-out, CMS will implement the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (OAS CAHPS) as a mandatory measure in the Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) Program beginning in January 2024 and the Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program beginning in January 2025. If hospitals and ASCs do not comply with the new reporting requirements, they are subject to an annual rate reduction in their Medicare payments.

Press Ganey will be supporting healthcare organizations in successfully integrating the OAS CAHPS surveying requirement into their overall measurement and engagement strategies to enhance their understanding of patient experience and generate insights that drive improvement.

We have been a CMS-approved OAS CAHPS vendor since its inception several years ago and are well-positioned and prepared to help organizations adapt and adhere to this new regulatory mandate. As the new CMS requirement has financial implications, we look forward to helping our healthcare partners comply with updated reporting requirements while also capturing the patient voice to help inform their performance improvement efforts.

Kaycee Galvich
Senior Director of Policy, Press Ganey

CMS also announced that it will begin to allow web-based surveying (“digital surveying”) for OAS CAHPS in 2022—the first time CMS will allow digital surveying for any regulatory patient experience survey. Specifically, they approved sending emailed or mailed invitations to web-based surveys as part of a mixed-mode approach, with either mail or phone call follow-up to nonrespondents. As the leader in healthcare digital surveying, Press Ganey administered 395 million digital surveys in 2020 alone, averaging 1.1 million surveys per day.

“Press Ganey has been on the forefront of digital survey delivery for several years. We applaud CMS for embracing electronic data collection, and we’re excited to work with our partners to collect more insights that optimize performance,” said Daniel Litwer, chief client officer, Press Ganey.

To learn more about the new ruling, register to attend Press Ganey’s upcoming webinar at PressGaney.com.