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Announcement

Facility Closing/Merging Attestation Form Now Available
folder_openOther Announcementscalendar_todayPosted June 10, 2020

OAS CAHPS Survey vendors must notify the OAS CAHPS Survey Coordination Team if they learn that one of their hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) or ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs) has closed, will be closing, or has merged or will be merging with another facility. To assist vendors with this task, the Coordination Team has developed an online tool where vendors can submit this information via the OAS CAHPS website.

Submitting a Closed/Closing Facility:

If an outpatient facility has closed or will be closing, and therefore will no longer be participating on the OAS CAHPS Survey, the survey vendor authorized to collect data on behalf of that facility must complete and submit the online Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation Form as soon as possible after learning that the facility has or will be closing.

If the facility closed before data collection began for the quarter (therefore no data were collected for the upcoming quarter) an XML file for this facility should not be submitted to the OAS CAHPS Data Center.

If an outpatient facility closes after data collection activities have begun for the quarter, the vendor must submit an XML file for the closed facility to the OAS CAHPS Data Center. The data file must contain survey data collected and a final disposition code must be assigned to each sample patient.

Submitting a Merged Facility:

If an outpatient facility has merged with another CCN (resulting in a surviving CCN and a non-surviving CCN), and the non-surviving CCN will no longer be participating on the OAS CAHPS Survey, the survey vendor authorized to collect data on behalf of that facility must complete and submit the online Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation Form as soon as possible after learning of the merger.

If the vendor is notified of the merger before submission of the next XML file, survey vendors are asked to combine the data for both CCNs in one XML file, under the surviving CCN. Please see the example below for clarification:

  • Prior to the Q2, 2019 data submission period, the vendor is notified that CCN 111111 has merged with CCN 222222.
  • CCN 111111 is the non-surviving CCN and CCN 222222 is the surviving CCN.
  • The survey vendor should submit to the OAS CAHPS Data Center one XML file for CCN 222222 that contains the combined data of CCN 111111 and CCN 222222, if possible (an XML file for CCN 111111 should not be submitted). Please ensure there are no duplicate SIDs in the submitted XML file.
  • If the vendor is unable to combine the two CCNs into one XML file, please submit the data for both CCNs to the OAS CAHPS Data Center as two separate XML files.

Accessing the Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation Form

Vendors can access the Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form by logging into the OAS CAHPS website and choosing "Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation" Form which is under the For Vendors tab at the top of the website's home page. Once a Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation Form is submitted by a survey vendor, an e-mail message will be sent to the facility's OAS CAHPS Survey Administrator to notify the facility that the vendor has submitted the Attestation Form on the facility's behalf.

In this automated message, the Survey Administrator will also be notified that submission of this form means that an end date has been added to the current vendor authorization record for the non-surviving merged CCN(s)/Closed CCN(s) on the OAS CAHPS website. This means that if at any point in the future the listed CCN(s) becomes active again and wishes to participate in the OAS CAHPS Surveys, they will need to authorize a survey vendor for the CCN(s).

For mergers, the survey vendor will also receive an automated message with a reminder of the steps to take prior to submitting an XML file of combined survey data for the surviving and non-surviving CCN.

Please contact the OAS CAHPS Survey Coordination Team via e-mail at oascahps@rti.org or call toll-free (866) 590-7468 if you have any questions about completing the Vendor Facility Closed/Merged Attestation Form.