We are writing to make you aware of important changes for ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in 2025 related to the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery (OAS) Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey. While participation in OAS CAHPS is voluntary at this time, beginning on Wednesday, January 1, 2025, OAS CAHPS will become a mandatory requirement of The Ambulatory Surgical Center Quality Reporting (ASCQR) Program. Below we have detailed several changes that will soon be made in gGastro® to support these new requirements.
Product Update to Support OAS CAHPS
To support the ASCQR’s new requirements, we are enhancing the data extract functionality in gGastro used for CAHPS reporting in an upcoming release tentatively planned for January 2025. These updates will allow you to export more detailed data files, which can then be shared with a third-party survey vendor of your choice to administer your survey.
There are two options for generating your CAHPS data file:
- Manually Generate the File (Free of Charge): With this release, gGastro customers will benefit from an improved user experience when manually generating this file type. The user will be able to select one or multiple fields and re-order them as needed to meet third-party vendor specifications with less manual manipulation. Files will be delivered in a comma-separated values (.csv) format through gGastro Messaging and can then be manually uploaded to a third-party vendor of your choice.
- Automatically Generate the File (Fees Apply): This option allows users to generate the fields and have files automatically delivered to Press Ganey Updated with minimal effort. Contact our Support Team for pricing details.
Regardless of which method you choose to generate your CAHPS data file, you will benefit from the following changes to the data extract functionality in gGastro:
- The ability to easily remove patient data from the file:
- If the patient is set to “Protect Data = Yes”, the file will not include patient data.
- If the patient is set to “CAHPS State Restriction = Yes”, the file will not include patient data.
- Removal of the “No Publicity” or “CAHPS State Restriction” field
- Exclusion of interrupted procedures
- Improvement of patient disposition field logic (Transferred Admitted to inpatient code)
- The ability to set a default Survey Designator and Admission/Discharge codes
These changes are being made to support the filter logic utilized by many third-party survey vendors, allowing for a more streamlined process. After the file has been exported, the following fields/requests can be manipulated by your third-party survey vendor:
- The population of the CCN Number
- Calculation of the number of patients served
- Exclusion of patients that have been seen over a set period of months
We plan to communicate additional details and release notes concerning this release in the coming weeks.
Action Recommended
If you have not yet participated in the OAS CAHPS, we recommend you familiarize yourself with the survey now. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website has helpful information about OAS CAHPS and the ASCQR program and its requirements. Furthermore, we recommend that you take a moment to review our quick reference guide on ModMed® Communities for gGastro. If you have any questions regarding this notice, please contact our Support Team.