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PCF PECS Interviewer Training & HIPAA Documentation Due 12/6
Other AnnouncementsPosted December 3, 2024

All documentation of PCF PEC Survey Telephone Interviewer training and HIPAA training is due on December 6, 2024. In your submission, please include the training and certification dates for all of your telephone interviewers that work on the PCF PEC Survey and their HIPAA training and certification.

Using the table below, please submit your documentation to the PCF PEC Survey team by the deadline.

Vendor Name:
Training
Date(s) of Training
Total # of English-speaking interviewers trained
Total # of Spanish-speaking interviewers trained
Certification
Total # of English-speaking interviewers certified
Total # of Spanish-speaking interviewers certified
Please confirm that all interviewers completed HIPAA training and have signed Confidentiality Agreements on file (see section 9.5.2 of the QAG) by typing YES in the space provided.

If you hold additional training sessions after December 6, 2024, please resubmit the table above with the updated information regarding training dates and total numbers of interviewers trained and certified with your interviewer monitoring documentation by January 31, 2025.

If you have questions, please contact the PCF PEC Survey team at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

Using the table below, please submit your documentation to the PCF PEC Survey team by the deadline.

Vendor Name:
Training
Date(s) of Training
Total # of English-speaking interviewers trained
Total # of Spanish-speaking interviewers trained
Certification
Total # of English-speaking interviewers certified
Total # of Spanish-speaking interviewers certified
Please confirm that all interviewers completed HIPAA training and have signed Confidentiality Agreements on file (see section 9.5.2 of the QAG) by typing YES in the space provided.

If you have questions, please contact the PCF PEC Survey team at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

RTI International will be closed on 11/28 & 11/29 for the Thanksgiving Holiday
Other AnnouncementsPosted November 21, 2024

RTI International will be closed on Thursday, November 28, and Friday, November 29, 2024, for the Thanksgiving holiday. The PCF PECS Team will respond to email and telephone inquiries that are received on those dates after RTI re-opens on Monday, December 2, 2024.

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

PCF PECS Interim Data Submission Deadline – November 27, 2024
Data SubmissionPosted November 20, 2024

The data submission window for submitting the second interim data file to the PCF PECS website is Monday, November 25 to Wednesday, November 27, 2024 by 7:59 p.m. ET. Please see this quick link for instructions on uploading the interim data file. Data submission resources are available on the PCF PECS website. Note the important points provided below.

Per the vendor announcement on 11/13/2024, please code out the seeded sample members that we included in your sample file before submitting your second set of interim data. Seeded mailing cases should be coded as 200 - Excluded from Survey.
Survey vendors should submit their data files as soon as possible after the window opens, to allow adequate time to re-submit data, if needed. You may submit files as many times as needed as long as the final file submission is successfully uploaded by the deadline.
It is recommended that vendors use the XML Schema Validation tool on the Data Submission tab of the website. This online tool will allow survey vendors to "pretest" their XML files to determine if they will pass many of the validation steps, before actually uploading the file to the Data Submission Tool.
It is recommended that files include the name of the vendor in the file name. Example: RTI_ZZ9900_2024.xml.
Vendors must submit one XML file per practice site.
Each XML file must contain one header record, a patient administrative record for every sampled patient, and a patient response record for every patient with questionnaire data.
Survey vendors can select either a single XML file or a single ZIP file that contains 1 XML file each from multiple practice sites. Do not include more than 1,500 XML files in a single zip file.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that all client practice sites have authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.
Each time a data file for a vendor is submitted, it overwrites any previously submitted data for that same vendor.
You must still submit an XML data file for all practices and include each sample member even if not all sample members have completed their PEC Survey at the time of submission.
Final Survey Status codes will be required even for interim data submissions. For interim data submissions ONLY, use 270 (Pending) for those cases that may not yet had all contact attempts and may still complete between interim data submission and final data submission.
After each file upload, you will receive an email confirmation within several minutes notifying you whether the upload was successful.
All submitted files will go through validation checks. After the validation check, you will receive a second e-mail confirmation message notifying you whether your file has been accepted or rejected. The confirmation e-mail message will contain a hyperlink to a Data Submission Report, which shows details of the validation check and any file errors that were identified.
Survey vendors can access the Data Submission Reports on the project website by selecting "History" through the "Data Submission Reports" link in the Data Submission menu.
If you do not receive an e-mail message confirming that your file was successfully uploaded, an e-mail message providing the results of the validation checks, or you cannot view the Data Submission Reports on files that you have submitted, please contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org.

CMS will not accept any data files for the second interim submission received after 7:59 p.m. ET on November 27, 2024.

For additional information about data file preparation and data submission processes, please review Chapter 7 of the PCF PECS Quality Assurance Guidelines available under the Survey Materials tab on the PECS website. The full data collection schedule is also on the PECS website. Please contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715 if you have any questions or trouble submitting data files.

Reminder: Code Out Seeded Sample Members
Other AnnouncementsPosted November 13, 2024

The PCF PEC Survey team would like to remind survey vendors to code out the seeded sample members that we included in your sample file before the start of the CATI telephone follow up period on Monday, November 18, 2024. The sample ID numbers of seeded mailing cases were sent to your organization along with the feedback from the first interim data submission. Seeded mailing cases should be coded as 200 - Excluded from Survey.

Vendors with questions should contact the PCF PEC Survey team via email at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715.

PCF PEC Survey CATI Reminders
Other AnnouncementsPosted November 11, 2024

Telephone follow-up for the PCF PEC Survey begins on November 18, 2024. The PCF PEC Survey Team would like to highlight the following reminders about CATI for the PCF PEC Survey:

Survey vendors must 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 patients in the sample file.

Survey vendors have the option to suspend CATI interviews from November 28-29, 2024 due to the Thanksgiving holiday. Vendors are not required to obtain pre-approval from CMS for this closure.

Survey vendors must provide sufficient Spanish-speaking Help Desk personnel commensurate with the size of their client practices’ Spanish-speaking populations.

Survey vendors must provide Spanish-speaking telephone interviewers commensurate with the size of their client practices’ Spanish-speaking populations.

Survey vendors must provide training for all telephone interviewing and Help Desk staff prior to beginning telephone survey data collection activities. If the survey vendor subcontracts with another firm to conduct phone interviewers, the survey vendor is responsible for attending/participating in the subcontractor’s interviewer training to make sure the subcontractor complies with the protocols, procedures, and telephone interviewer guidelines established for the PCF PEC Survey.

Survey vendors must ensure that telephone interviewers are properly trained. Interviewers must be thoroughly familiar with the phone survey protocol and procedures, skilled in general interviewing techniques including enlisting cooperation, refusal avoidance, and proper handling of the proxy interview protocols. Please review the PCF PEC Survey Telephone Interviewer Guidelines and confirm your staff are thoroughly trained on these topics.

Survey vendors must conduct an interviewer certification process—verbal, written, or both—for each interviewer and Help Desk personnel prior to permitting the interviewer or staff member to make or take calls on the PCF PEC Survey. The training and certification process should be conducted as close to phone follow-up as possible to help interviewer staff remember the information.

Survey vendors must ensure that telephone interviewers are certified in each language that they will be administering the survey in (i.e., bilingual interviewers must be certified in both English and Spanish).

Survey vendors must submit documentation of training and certification of all telephone interviewers and Help Desk staff, along with the outcomes, to the PCF PEC Survey team for review by 5:00 pm ET on Friday, December 6, 2024. If additional telephone interviewers are trained after that submission, survey vendors must submit revised documentation by no later than Friday, January 31, 2025.

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 First Interim Data Submission Deadline– October 21, 2024
Data SubmissionPosted October 15, 2024

The first data submission window for submitting interim data to the PCF PECS website is Thursday, October 17 to Monday, October 21, 2024, by 7:59 p.m. ET. Please see this quick link for instructions on uploading the interim data file. Data submission resources are available on the PCF PECS website. A list of common data issues found during previous performance years was provided in the July 2024 PCF PEC Survey Vendor Newsletter - please review prior to submission.

Note the important points provided below.

Survey vendors should start submitting their data files as soon as possible after the window opens, to allow adequate time to re-submit data, if needed. You may submit files as many times as needed as long as the final file submission is successfully uploaded by the deadline.
It is recommended that vendors use the XML Schema Validation tool on the Data Submission tab of the website. This online tool will allow survey vendors to "pretest" their XML files to determine if they will pass many of the validation steps, before actually uploading the file to the Data Submission Tool.
It is recommended that files include the name of the vendor in the file name. Example: RTI_ZZ9900_2024.xml.
Vendors will submit one XML file per practice site. Each XML file must contain one header record, a patient administrative record for every sampled patient, and a patient response record for every patient with questionnaire data.
Survey vendors can select either a single XML file or a single ZIP file that contains 1 XML file each from multiple practice sites. Do not include more than 1,500 XML files in a single zip file.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that all client practice sites have authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.
Each time a data file for a vendor is submitted, it overwrites any previously submitted data for that same vendor.
You must still submit an XML data file for all practices and include each sample member even if not all sample members have completed their PEC Survey at the time of submission.
Final Survey Status codes will be required even for interim data submissions. For interim data submissions ONLY, use 270 (Pending) for cases that may not have had all contact attempts yet and may still complete the survey between interim data submission and final data submission.
After each file upload, you will receive an email confirmation within several minutes notifying you whether the upload was successful.
All submitted files will go through validation checks. After the validation check is conducted, you will receive a second e-mail confirmation message notifying you whether your file has been accepted or rejected. The confirmation e-mail message will contain a hyperlink to a Data Submission Report, which shows details of the validation check and any file errors that were identified.
Survey vendors can access the Data Submission Reports on the project website by selecting "History" through the "Data Submission Reports" link in the Data Submission menu.
Please contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org if:
- You do not receive an e-mail message confirming that your file was successfully uploaded
- You do not receive an e-mail message providing the results of the validation checks
- You cannot view the Data Submission Reports on files that you have submitted

CMS will not accept any data files for the first interim submission received after 7:59 p.m. ET on October 21, 2024.

For additional information about data file preparation and data submission processes, please review Chapter 7 of the PCF PECS Quality Assurance Guidelines available under the Survey Materials tab on the PCF PECS website. The full data collection schedule is also on the PECS website. Please contact the PCF PECS Team via e-mail at pcfpecs@rti.org or call 1-833-997-2715 if you have any questions or trouble submitting data files.

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.

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