Quality, Safety & Oversight - Promising Practices Project

State Survey Agency Effectiveness & Efficiency

Sharing Innovations & Removing Barriers

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Survey and Certification Group is sponsoring the development of a series of issue briefs on useful practices and techniques that State Survey Agencies (SAs) use to improve their performance effectiveness and efficiency.

Over the years, SAs have developed many innovative and creative solutions to meet the demands of their performance service goals.  However, frequently, information about these efforts is not widespread and the practical knowledge for making improvements often goes unshared among SAs.  The purpose of the Survey and Certification (S&C) Promising Practices Project is to disseminate the many creative ideas implemented by SAs, so all States may benefit from the experiences of their peers across the nation.

The S&C Promising Practices issue brief topics are being gathered and developed by the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, with the collaboration of the Promising Practices Workgroup.

Key Barrier to Performance

SAs have identified staffing and recruitment of survey staff as one of the primary barriers to effective performance.  These issue briefs describe innovative recruitment and retention techniques and strategies, as well as other regulatory practices that improve efficiencies.