The Patient Assessment Survey (PAS) - Doctor Survey
Physician groups have the option of surveying additional patients to produce doctor-level results using the PAS survey instrument that is used for the Group Survey. Groups can choose among three surveys to evaluate patients’ experiences of care with primary care practitioners, specialists, or pediatricians. Physician groups use the doctor-level results for quality improvement, compensation and other recognition activities
For the Doctor Survey, the group designates the physicians for whom patient samples will be drawn. Groups can survey across a broad range of physician specialties. The survey instrument used will depend on the physicians whose patients are surveyed:
- PCP Survey: Family practitioners and internal medicine physicians designated as the adult's PCP
- Specialist Survey: Adult specialists, excluding hospital-based physicians and urgent care physicians
- Child Survey: Pediatricians designated as the PCP for visits with children under the age of 14
The survey is administered using a two-survey mailings protocol (no phone follow-up). Eligible patients are those who have had a visit with the doctor that the medical group has included in the doctor-level survey. Patient visits with a PCP who is not the patient's PCP will be excluded.
Distinct from the Group Survey, the Doctor Survey can be used with physicians serving members in any product line (HMO, POS, PPO, commercial or Medicare). Special arrangements are made if a group wishes to create a unique sample of Medicare-only patients.
For each participating physician a sample of 100 patients is selected. A mail-out sample size of 100 patients per doctor typically yields between 30 and 35 survey responses per physician, averaged across all medical groups. However, response rates for individual doctors can range substantially. Historically, the number of responses per doctor has ranged from a low of 10 to a high of 50+. There is some indication that physicians who serve patients of diverse cultures/language see lower response rates.
To increase the likelihood of receiving a threshold number of responses per doctor, groups have the option to increase the number of patients in the mail sample to 135 per doctor. The group has the option of designating a subset of select doctors to have a larger patient sample. This option does entail an additional fee (see below). In considering an increase in the mailed sample size from 100 to 135 for select physicians a group may wish to weigh the following:
- The group’s uses of the survey results. If results are used as a component of physician compensation, we recommend a minimum of 20-25 responses per doctor.
- The group's historical experience with physician level survey efforts. Groups who have participated in past years may wish to consider the 135 patient sample size for select physicians who have historically experienced low response rates. Groups without historic information may wish to choose the standard sample size of 100 for this year and make adjustments in future years as necessary.
- In some cases, low numbers of responses may also result from the relatively small size of some physician patient panels - with some physicians not having 100 patients that meet the eligibility criteria for inclusion in the survey sample. As an interim step in the project, the survey vendor will apprise the group of each doctor's sample size after receiving the data submission. Groups can remove doctors from the doctor-level survey if the eligible patient sample is fewer than 100. Likewise, if a physician was targeted for a 135 sample size, but the data submission shows that they do not have enough eligible patients to meet this mark, the group can choose to transfer the doctor to the 100 sample size option.
Fees for the Doctor Survey are detailed below. Although the per unit fees for the Doctor Survey and alternative language surveying are final, each group's total fees (based on the number of participating doctors) will not be finalized until the patient samples are created and the group has reviewed the available patient sample sizes for each physician. The group must flag the physicians selected for inclusion in the Doctor Survey as part of the group's data submission due by November 21, 2012.
| Doctor Survey |
| Fixed fee for each group reporting unit |
$2,260 |
| (A) Per non-pediatric practitioner fee for a sample size of 100 |
$229 X No. of Doctors Surveyed |
| (B) Per pediatrician fee for a sample size of 100 |
$258 X No. of Pediatricians Surveyed |
| (B) Per non-pediatric practitioner fee for a sample size of 135* |
$300 X No. of Doctors Surveyed |
*Optional larger sample size for non-pediatric physicians with historically lower survey response rates
Alternative Language Surveying in the Doctor Survey
The group can choose to conduct alternative language surveying at the physician-level in Spanish, Chinese or Vietnamese. The group may select all of the designated Doctor-Survey physicians or a subset of these providers’ to include in the alternative language surveying. Patients of these physicians will receive survey packets with two copies of the survey: an English-language version and an alternative language version. The group must flag physicians selected for alternative language surveying in the physician group's data submission due by November 19, 2012.
The additional fees are listed below.
| Doctor Survey Alternative Language Fees |
| Survey mailings “double stuffed” to include written survey materials in both English and one alternative language among the above listed options. (The Child Survey will not be available in Chinese or Vietnamese) |
| (A) Per patient (non-pediatric) |
$1.40 per patient |
| (B) Per patient (pediatric) |
$1.70 per patient |
|
