Attachment X - First Mail Survey Letter

Attachment X. — First Mail Survey Letter

[PRINT ON RAND LETTERHEAD]

[Mailed ~ 2 weeks after web survey invitation letter is mailed.]

Dear Participant:

We recently sent you a letter inviting you to complete the Hospital National Provider Survey, via the web, a survey that is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To date, we have not received your completed survey. We are enclosing a hard copy of the survey and requesting that you complete the survey before [DATE].

Every three years, CMS is required by law to assess the quality and efficiency impact of its use of performance measures (i.e., quality, safety, patient experience) that are being deployed to improve care for Medicare beneficiaries. As part of the assessment, CMS is interested in learning about hospitals’ experiences as they participate in CMS performance measurement programs and the changes hospitals are making to drive improvements in care. Your hospital’s response to the survey will help CMS understand:

• How the CMS performance measures are changing the way in which your hospital is delivering care.

• Factors that are driving your hospital’s investments in performance improvement.

• Issues your hospital faces related to reporting the CMS measures.

• Potential undesired effects associated with the measures.

• Challenges your hospital faces related to improvement on the CMS measures.

CMS recognizes that your hospital devotes significant resources to collecting data, reporting, and improving your hospital’s performance on the CMS measures included in the CMS Inpatient Quality Reporting and Outpatient Quality Reporting programs. Your feedback is very important and will be used to improve the functioning of these measurement programs, so that they work well for both providers and their patients.

Health Services Advisory Group, Inc. (HSAG), under contract with CMS, has asked the RAND Corporation to conduct and analyze this survey. Completing the survey will take approximately 30 to 40 minutes. You may need to consult with others in your organization to complete the survey. If you prefer to complete the survey online, please go to the following URL and enter your PIN:

https://www.randsurvey.org/fqhc/

PIN: XXXX

You may complete the online survey in different sessions. Just remember to save your responses and to log back in later to complete any pending questions. When you log back in, you will be taken to the last unanswered question.

Please print a copy for yourself before submitting your completed survey. As you complete the survey, you may want to refer to the Hospital Inpatient Quality Reporting (IQR) measures and the Outpatient Quality Reporting (OQR) measures that are enclosed with the survey and accessible at the following links:

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalRHQDAPU.html and

https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HospitalQualityInits/HospitalOutpatientQualityReportingProgram.html

All of the information you provide will be held in confidence by HSAG and the RAND Corporation. RAND will combine your survey answers with the answers from other hospitals that complete the survey and produce only summary results across all hospitals. When presenting survey results to CMS, HSAG and RAND will not include your name or any other information that could identify you or your hospital. Please note that:

• Your hospital’s participation in the survey is voluntary.

• Your decision to participate or not to participate will have no effect on you or your organization and CMS.

• You can skip any question you do not want to answer.

• HSAG and RAND will not share your information with anyone, except as required by law.

• HSAG and RAND will not share your individual responses with your employer or with CMS.

If you have any questions, comments, or concerns about the survey, or if you would like to receive a hard copy of the survey, please contact Beverly Weidmer, the Survey Director for this project at RAND, at Beverly_Weidmer@rand.org or at 310-393-0411, ext. 6788. If you have any questions about your rights as a research subject, please contact the RAND Human Subject’s Protection Committee at 310-393-0411, ext. 7173, and ask to speak to Jim Tebow.

Thank you, in advance, for your help with this important survey!

Sincerely,

Cheryl Damberg, PhD

Principal Investigator (Survey Project Director)