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PCF PEC Survey Proxy Protocol
Other AnnouncementsPosted September 27, 2024

As described in Section 5.4 of the Quality Assurance Guidelines, the use of proxies is permitted for the PCF Patient Experience of Care (PEC) Survey. The survey instrument allows patients who are unable to complete the survey to have someone take the survey on their behalf (known as a “proxy”) or help the patient with completing the survey on their own (known as a “helper”). Proxies and helpers typically help patients who are too ill to take the survey, have physical or cognitive limitations, or have language barriers. A proxy should be someone like a family member or friend who is familiar with the patient’s care. Note that staff or clinicians at the practice site may not serve as proxies or helpers. Practices may require more proxy interviews if they specialize in geriatric care or have a high proportion of patients who speak a different language, live in facilities, or use home health care. As shown on the final question of the survey, proxies and helpers can:

Read questions

Write down the answer the patient gave

Answer the questions for the patient

Translate the questions into the patient’s language (including over the phone)

Help in other ways

Proxies may NOT be used if the patient is:

x Deceased

x Under 18 years old

x Unavailable/out of the country

x Institutionalized (nursing home/jail/prison)

x Refusing to participate

Mail Materials

To raise awareness of the proxy/helper option, PCF PEC Survey materials including the letters, postcards, the poster, and Frequently Asked Questions clearly state that someone can help the patient take the survey: “If needed, someone like a family member or friend can help you by recording your answers, reading the survey to you, or translating it into your language. However, if you cannot respond because of poor health or cognitive or physical limitations, someone like a family member or friend knowledgeable about your care can take the survey on your behalf.”

This statement is translated into 10 different languages on the survey poster, which practices display in their waiting rooms.

The Residential Care Facility Envelope is designed to draw the attention of potential proxies with this statement on the outside of the envelope: “Please ensure the resident or their loved one sees this survey about visits to their primary care provider.”

For PY 2024, we have added a proxy statement to the standard 1st and 2nd mailing envelopes: “If needed, someone like a friend or family member can assist you with this survey.” This additional message may help inform patients and caregivers about the proxy option who may not have otherwise taken the time to open the survey mailing.

Help Desk and Telephone Interviews

Survey vendors must ensure that telephone interviewers and Help Desk staff stay attuned to people declining survey participation because of the patient’s health, disability, or language. These barriers can be overcome with a proxy or a helper, which should be encouraged and facilitated by survey vendor personnel.

The CATI scripts include language for proxy interviews. Please ensure that telephone interviewers follow the script as written to correctly select a proxy respondent and administer a proxy interview.

For situations where the respondent is mentally or physically incapable to take the survey, including those who are hearing impaired with no TTY service and a proxy is not available, vendors should code the case as 180 - Ineligible: Mentally or Physically Incapacitated. For cases where the respondent speaks a language other than English or Spanish and a proxy is not available, vendors should code the case as 170 - Language Barrier.

Thank you for your attention to these important efforts to increase patient participation in the PCF PEC Survey. Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via email at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

PCF PEC Survey Data Collection Begins Next Week!
Other AnnouncementsPosted September 20, 2024

Data collection for the Performance Year (PY) 2024 PCF Patient Experience of Care (PEC) Survey begins Monday, September 23, 2024. The PCF PEC Survey team appreciates the hard work of all survey vendors in getting ready for the survey. We look forward to continuing to assist vendors in a successful round of PEC Survey data collection.

Below are some key upcoming dates to be aware of as the PCF PEC Survey gets underway:

Monday, September 23, 2024 – Start of mail data collection & teaser postcard mailing

Tuesday, September 24, 2024 – Vendor Help Desk opens

Monday, September 30, 2024 – Start of virtual site visits & 1st questionnaire mailing

Monday, October 7, 2024 – Thank you/reminder postcard mailing

Monday, October 21, 2024 – 1st interim data set submission due

Monday, November 18, 2024 – Start of telephone follow-up & interviewer monitoring sessions

Wednesday, November 27, 2024 – 2nd interim data set submission due

Friday, December 6, 2024 – Vendor interviewer training documentation due

Tuesday, December 17, 2024 – All mail and telephone data collection ends

Thursday, January 16, 2025 – Final data set submission due

Friday, January 31, 2025 – Vendor interviewer monitoring documentation due (include revised training documentation as needed)

The full data collection schedule is available on the PEC Survey website. Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PEC Survey Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

Required Address Verifications Prior to Data Collection
Other AnnouncementsPosted September 17, 2024

Now that PEC Survey vendors have received the survey sample, they must perform the following protocols prior to the start of data collection.

Ask practice sites for their name and physical address. Vendors should ask their client PCF practice site for the practice site name and address that sample patients will recognize, and use that name in the survey cover letter, the mail survey questionnaire, and telephone script. The PEC Survey team provided the practice dba name and mailing address on the sample files, exactly as they were entered into the PCF Portal by the practice.

It is possible the patient-recognizable name and address differ from the name and address on the sample file, if the practice site elected to use a legal or other name in the PCF model. Ask your client practices, “What name is on your front door? What name is on your website?” Performing this check with practices is also an excellent way to identify any typographical errors. A common reason for nonresponse to the survey is lack of recognition to the practice name and address. Completing this step can help boost response rates!

Please see section 4.6.1 in the Quality Assurance Guide for more information.

Employ Address Standardization and Forwarding Address Techniques. Vendors must verify each mailing address in the sample file by using a commercial address update and standardization service. A commercial address update service that fixes address formatting errors (promoting timely delivery) and accesses Address Forwarding requests, such as National Change of Address (NCOA) or the U.S. Postal Service Zip+4 software, are recommended.

When a new/forwarding address for a patient is known, the survey vendor should take advantage of that and send the mailing to the forwarding address. Survey vendors are permitted to ask the client practice sites to provide updated address information for all patients they treated during the sampling window if the vendor has an appropriate agreement with the practice sites. Survey vendors cannot give a list of the sampled patients to the practices to request this information. Please see sections 4.6.4 and 5.5.7 in the Quality Assurance Guide for more information.

Please note that survey vendors are only allowed to code cases as ineligible if address standardization shows that the sampled patient resides out of the country or has moved out of the country during data collection. Any other address standardization information is not permitted to be used to code cases as ineligible (i.e., addresses identified as prisons or nursing homes, or indication that the patient is deceased).

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

Virtual Site Visits for Active PCF PEC Survey Vendors
Other AnnouncementsPosted September 5, 2024

Virtual Site Visits for PCF PEC Survey Vendors with Active PY24 Practice Clients

The PCF PECS Survey team will conduct virtual site visits with vendors who have active PY24 practice clients to ensure compliance with all PCF PECS Survey requirements. These visits typically involve two to four individuals from the PCF PECS team and may also include a representative from CMS. The site visits will take place through secure video conference calls via Zoom and will last for a half-day during the fielding period. Additional sessions may be scheduled during the mail and telephone periods of data collection if needed.

RTI will email vendors information about the proposed date(s), any area(s) of concern, and specific vendor personnel who should be in attendance. If a vendor uses a subcontractor in a substantial role, the virtual site visit will include at least one video conference call with the subcontractor. RTI and the vendor will schedule the site visit(s) at a mutually agreeable time.

Approximately one week prior to the virtual site visit, the PCF PEC Survey team will email vendors a draft Site Visit Agenda which lists the topics that will be covered and documents or other resources that vendors are expected to provide during the video conference. The PEC Survey team will offer to conduct an optional, brief pre-site visit meeting to review the draft agenda, answer any questions that the vendor might have about the site visit, and to test the screensharing features in Zoom. If the vendor provides feedback to the draft agenda via email or during the pre-site visit meeting that necessitates changes to the agenda, the PEC Survey team will send a final Site Visit Agenda at least 2 business days before the scheduled site visit.

Section 10.6 of the QAG states that vendors are strongly encouraged to provide a presentation to help describe their survey processes. Vendors who are planning to prepare supplemental materials about their PCF PEC Survey processes (i.e., PowerPoints, protocol documents, etc.) for the site visit will not need to present them during the site visit but should be prepared to display their supplemental materials as needed to address questions from the PEC Survey team. Please provide any presentation materials you plan to share with the PCF PEC Survey team at least one week before your site visit date. Examples of topics we expect to cover may include but are not limited to:

A video “walk through” of the physical area used for interviewing, mailing, or data processing.

A document “step through” of the systems and processes used from the point of receiving the sample patient file to preparation of a final data file.

Software/programs in downloading and storing the sample patient file.

Review of telephone interviewing monitoring logs.

A walkthrough of methods used for tracking contacts made and status codes.

Documentation and observation related to SPAM flagging.

A review of documentation of the above steps.

Interviews with the survey vendor’s key PCF PEC Survey project staff, including the project manager and data manager.

A discussion about the Help Desk voicemail and email.

A walkthrough of the systems in place to protect the confidentiality of electronic data received from PCF PEC Survey Team and survey data received from patients.

Both the RTI site visit team and the survey vendor staff will sign a Confidential Disclosure Agreement (CDA). The CDA states that all staff must maintain confidence or restrict the disclosure of all proprietary information received or observed during the site visit.

After each site visit, RTI will prepare and submit to CMS a Site Visit Report, which will summarize the findings from each site visit, including any deficiencies and problems observed and remaining. The Site Visit Report will also describe corrective actions that the survey vendor will be required to take to correct any deficiencies or problems noted. The PCF PECS Team will provide the survey vendor with the Site Visit Report after it has been reviewed with CMS project staff.

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

PY 2024 PCF PEC Survey Sample File Will Be Ready 9/10
Sample DownloadPosted September 3, 2024

Sample files for the Performance Year (PY) 2024 PCF PEC Survey will be available for download Tuesday, September 10, 2024 through Friday, September 13, 2024 on the PCF PECS website by survey vendors who have been authorized by one or more PCF practices to collect and submit survey data on their behalf.

The PCF PECS website has a Downloading Sample Files Quick Link to walk vendors through the download process. To download the sample file, vendors should:

Log in to the PCF PECS website using their user credentials.
Under the "Data Submission" tab, choose the “Sample File Download” option.
Read and confirm that they agree to the attestation statement.
Click on the link to their encrypted sample file.

Vendors will receive an email notification on Tuesday, September 10 with a password to open the encrypted file. Due to CMS rules regarding data security, only the registered vendor point of contact can receive this email notification. We are unable to include other vendor staff on this communication. Please review this Quick Link on How to Add or Update Vendor Point of Contact Information if you need to make a change to your registered vendor point of contact prior to September 10.

The sample file to be downloaded by the survey vendor will be a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet containing contact information (information needed to administer the survey) for each sampled patient. The sample patient variables contained in each sample file are listed in the Example Sample file that was posted to the PCF PECS website. If a survey vendor is authorized to administer the survey on behalf of multiple PCF practice sites, patient information for sampled patients from all the PCF practice sites that have authorized the survey vendor will be included in one Excel file and will be sorted by Practice Site ID.

Please download and review an updated copy of your Survey Vendor Authorization Report. It is very important that vendors carefully review the sample file. Please note that practices that have recently withdrawn, closed, or been terminated have been removed from the sample file.

Vendors must email the PCF PECS Team within 24 hours of downloading the sample file and attest to all the following statements:

The vendor has downloaded the sample file.
The vendor has reviewed the sample file and compared it to their Vendor Authorization Report and their own records.
The file contains the sample for each practice with which the vendor has a contract to administer the survey in PY 2024.
The file does not contain the sample for any practice with which the vendor does not have a current contract.

Please note that if your practice(s) have more than 1 provider, the list of providers may be split across more than one variable column in your sample file. Please review the Example Sample file available on the PCF PEC Survey website to see how this may look.

Per Section 4.6.4 in the Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAG): After the sample file is downloaded, survey vendors must verify each mailing address that is included in the sample file provided by CMS using a commercial address update and standardization service, such as the National Change of Address. When a new/forwarding address for a patient is known, the survey vendor should take advantage of that and send the mailing to the forwarding address.

Per Section 5.6.1 of the QAG, vendors must also attempt to obtain phone numbers for the subset of patients in the sample for which a phone number was not provided. Survey vendors shall use a secondary source, such as phone matching services or software, directory assistance, and other phone directory applications. Vendors should take steps to ensure the telephone numbers provided by the service are associated with the patient in the sample file.

Please review Sections 4.5 and 4.6 of the Quality Assurance Guidelines for more information about sample file protocols and required quality control steps for PCF PECS.

A Sample File Summary Report will be sent to each survey vendor via email message after the sample file is downloaded. This report will show the number of patients sampled for each practice that authorized the vendor to submit data on its behalf.

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715. Practices should contact PCF Support at PCF@Telligen.com or call 1-888-517-7753.

RTI International will be closed on 9/2 for the Labor Day Holiday
Other AnnouncementsPosted August 30, 2024

RTI International will be closed on Monday, September 2, 2024, for the Labor Day holiday. The PCF PEC Survey Team will respond to email and telephone inquiries that are received on those dates after RTI re-opens on Tuesday, September 3, 2024.

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

PCF PEC Survey Practices Must Notify Vendor of Residential Care/Assisted Living Facilities
Other AnnouncementsPosted August 28, 2024

PCF PEC Survey Practices Must Notify Vendor of Residential Care/Assisted Living Facilities

As noted in Section 3.4.3 of the Quality Assurance Guidelines, PCF PEC Survey practices must share with their PEC Survey vendor the names and addresses of residential care facilities and assisted living facilities where 5 or more of their patients reside. Vendors should work with their practice clients to obtain this information prior to printing and mailing at the end of September. Practices can create this list of patients by searching for local residential care/assisted living facilities online or scanning through their patient address records.

PEC Survey vendors are responsible for identifying patients residing at these facilities if they are sampled for the survey. These patients will receive their survey in a special envelope designed to catch the attention of facility staff and solicit proxy respondents. These patients also do not receive telephone follow-up due to the burden this causes facility staff.

A First Edition newsletter article will remind practices about this requirement tomorrow, August 29, 2024. Please be sure to complete this important task for a successful data collection this fall!

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715. Practices should contact PCF Support at PCF@Telligen.com or call 1-888-517-7753.

Working with Practice Clients to Support the PEC Survey
Practice RequirementsPosted August 16, 2024

CMS has asked all PCF practices for their help to increase PEC Survey response rates. The email sent to practices on August 6 encourages practices to take the following steps to promote patient awareness of the survey this fall:

Send a Patient Portal Message in September using the language provided by CMS
Display the PCF PEC Survey Poster (available in small and large sizes)
Distribute PCF PEC Survey Patient FAQs (newly updated with official HHS letterhead)
Answer Patient Questions and Express Support for the Survey (referring to this resource for important guidelines about communicating with patients)

We recommend that you follow up and encourage your practice clients to take these important steps.

CMS also asks that PEC Survey vendors work closely with their practice clients to ensure the success of the PEC Survey. We share some ideas here, but if you have had other successful ideas, we welcome suggestions.

Ensure your practice clients have your Help Desk contact information. Share your Help Desk email address and toll-free number with practice clients and ask them to use the information to customize the poster and patient FAQs. Both the small poster and the FAQs can be distributed as handouts.

Please also explain to your client practices:

Why is it important to display the poster and FAQs? How can they help increase response rates and representation?

Displaying the poster and FAQs during the time when patients have eligible office visits (April through December) will increase recognition when surveys arrive at their homes. Patients will recall seeing the poster and receiving or reading the FAQs and know that the survey is legitimate. They are then more likely to participate.

Send your practice clients an example of your survey mailing envelope. Show your practice clients what the survey mailing envelopes look like so that they can share that information with their patients. Tell them that the survey will be mailed using Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) letterhead, so that patients won't mistake it for junk mail. Recognition of the survey mail materials could increase patient participation in the mail survey. Just remember, practices may not provide copies of the questionnaire or survey materials to patients.
Let practices know what phone number their patients will be receiving PEC Survey calls from. Recognition of the phone number could increase the likelihood that patients will answer the survey phone follow up calls and participate in the survey.

Communicate with your practice clients throughout the data collection period and afterwards. Your practice clients should be aware of the data collection schedule (when patients should expect to receive mail surveys or phone calls), when to expect to receive results from your organization, and how to interpret those results once received.

Make sure to review the July 2024 Vendor Newsletter for other important steps that vendors should take this fall. CMS thanks you for your efforts to support the PEC Survey! Vendors with questions or suggestions should contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

Working with Practice Clients to Support the PEC Survey
Practice RequirementsPosted August 16, 2024

Send a Patient Portal Message in September using the language provided by CMS
Display the PCF PEC Survey Poster (available in small and large sizes)
Distribute PCF PEC Survey Patient FAQs (newly updated with official HHS letterhead)
Answer Patient Questions and Express Support for the Survey (referring to this resource for important guidelines about communicating with patients)

We recommend that you follow up and encourage your practice clients to take these important steps.

Ensure your practice clients have your Help Desk contact information. Share your Help Desk email address and toll-free number with practice clients and ask them to use the information to customize the poster and patient FAQs. Both the small poster and the FAQs can be distributed as handouts.

Please also explain to your client practices:

Why is it important to display the poster and FAQs? How can they help increase response rates and representation?

Send your practice clients an example of your survey mailing envelope. Show your practice clients what the survey mailing envelopes look like so that they can share that information with their patients. Tell them that the survey will be mailed using Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) letterhead, so that patients won't mistake it for junk mail. Recognition of the survey mail materials could increase patient participation in the mail survey. Just remember, practices may not provide copies of the questionnaire or survey materials to patients.
Let practices know what phone number their patients will be receiving PEC Survey calls from. Recognition of the phone number could increase the likelihood that patients will answer the survey phone follow up calls and participate in the survey.

Communicate with your practice clients throughout the data collection period and afterwards. Your practice clients should be aware of the data collection schedule (when patients should expect to receive mail surveys or phone calls), when to expect to receive results from your organization, and how to interpret those results once received.

Reminder: Requirements for Spanish Mail Survey Administration
Survey MaterialsPosted August 8, 2024

Data collection for the PY 2024 PCF PEC Survey begins on September 23rd. This announcement is a reminder of the requirements for mail survey administration in Spanish, as outlined in the Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAG) section 5.3:

Both postcards are in English but a line in Spanish states that if they prefer to receive the questionnaire in Spanish, they should call the toll-free number. Vendors must honor these requests and send a Spanish questionnaire.
The initial and non-response cover letters are to be printed double-sided with English on one side, Spanish on the other.
The first questionnaire must be sent in English to all A line in Spanish states that if they prefer to receive the questionnaire in Spanish, they should call the toll-free number. Vendors must honor these requests and send a Spanish questionnaire, at a minimum for the 2nd questionnaire mailing.
The second questionnaire must be sent in Spanish to patients who are indicated as Spanish speakers on the sample file. The Spanish questionnaire mailing should include the double-sided English/Spanish cover letter for the second mailing.

Some practices may serve a large population of patients whose preferred language is Spanish. Survey Vendors may submit an Exceptions Request Form (ERF) to send a Spanish survey questionnaire in the first mailing if there are a large number of patients who have indicated that Spanish is their preferred language in the sample file. Vendors should not send the first survey questionnaire in Spanish without an approved ERF. Please note that the PCF model is not in operation in Puerto Rico.

Please review the QAG section 5.3 for the full description of Spanish survey administration. Vendors with questions should contact the PEC Survey Team at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

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