The Compliance Team: It's 'all about continuous improvement'

SPRING HOUSE, Pa. - The Compliance Team has developed a new Internet tool that's designed to take patient satisfaction to a whole new level, said company President Sandra Canally.

The accreditation company's new benchmarking tool went live last month and allows providers to chart patient satisfaction weekly, monthly, quarterly and annually in eight different areas. It also lets them compare their efforts against universal benchmarks--the averages of all providers who use the new Web tool.

"This is another way for them to differentiate themselves from other accredited companies," Canally said. "They can identify patterns and opportunities for improvement by looking at their data results and how they compare to their comrade down the street."

CMS requires accredited providers to collect patient satisfaction surveys. In the past, providers collected this data on paper forms and then submitted the forms to The Compliance Team. The company tallied the data and provided quarterly reports to its HME customers. The new tool allows providers to ask patients the survey questions (within 72 hours of delivery and set up) and immediately enter the answers (yes, no, not applicable) online. This streamlined process lets The Compliance Team produce more timely quarterly reports, Canally said.

Some small HME providers with minimal computer skills may opt to continue filing paper customer service surveys, but the majority would rather do it electronically, Canally said.

"This is all about continuous improvement," she said. "You may think you are doing a great job--that you have all these satisfied customers--but do you have the data to back it up?"