vey to your patients by
telephone, mail or
mail with telephone
follow-up — no email
surveys, at least not
yet — and then submit
the data to CMS.
2. Is this manda-
tory?
Yes. If you don't par-
ticipate, CMS may
withhold 2% of your
Medicare reimburse-
ments.
3. Is a delay pos-
sible?
This is a CMS pro-
gram, so anything's
possible. There's a
"distinct possibility of
a reprieve," says Kara
Newbury, JD, regulatory counsel for the Ambulatory Surgery Center
Association (ASCA). This could mean a delay in the Jan. 1 start date,
fewer survey questions or an email version.
4. How many completed surveys?
ASCs must collect at least 300 completed surveys over each 12-month
reporting period (an average of 25 per month). "Small" ASCs that
1 0 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J U L Y 2 0 1 7
• NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS Critics of the OAS CAHPS say 13 of the survey's 37 ques-
tions are highly intrusive of your patients' personal information and have nothing to do
with the patient's ASC experience.
