SOPS Medical Office Survey Data Submission

Definition of a Medical Office

• A medical office is an outpatient facility in a specific location.
• A medical practice or health system may have multiple medical offices in different locations; however each unique location would be considered a separate medical office.
• Each medical office located in a building that contains multiple medical offices, is considered a separate medical office.
• If providers in a medical office share some or all administrative staff and/or clinical support staff, they may be considered one medical office.

Participation Requirements

• Medical offices must be located in the United States or in a U.S. territory.
• Each medical office must have at least five completed surveys to receive an individual feedback report.
• The core survey must have been administered in its entirety without any changes to the survey item text and response options. For more information on AHRQ Guidelines Regarding Use of the SOPS Name, please visit: https://www.ahrq.gov/sops/about/using-sops.html.

1. Medical Office Site Information: Users can upload medical office site information in one of two ways, one at a time through the online site information form or all at once in an Excel spreadsheet. Each medical office, including those from a health care system, is considered a separate medical office for submission purposes. Please use the Medical Office Site-Level Data File Specifications (PDF, 205 KB, PDF HELP) as a guide when entering your site information.
   • Sample Medical Office Site Information Data File (XLSX, 23 KB)
2. Copy of the Questionnaire(s) Administered: Users will need to upload a copy of the actual questionnaire(s) administered. If you used a copy of the Spanish questionnaire, please upload this questionnaire as well. We will review the submitted questionnaire(s) and users will receive an approved/not approved email within 3 business days.
   
   

   NOTE: Submitted questionnaires must follow the principles and standards established by AHRQ under the SOPS Trademark.

   Your questionnaire will not be approved if:

   • You made changes to any of the questionnaire item text and/or response options.
   • You reordered questionnaire items A1−G2.
   • You deleted one or more items between A1-G2.
   • You added new questions between items A1 and G2 (Please add any additional questions to the end of the questionnaire after Section G, before the demographic questions in Section H).
   
   

   NOTE: If you administered the SOPS Medical Office Survey with the Diagnostic Safety and/or Value and Efficiency Supplemental Item Sets, your survey must comply with the following guidelines:

   • Administration Instructions: To submit data from these supplemental item sets to the AHRQ SOPS Medical Office Survey Database, and to enable your site’s data to be compared to the Database, administer the supplemental item sets in their entirety without modifications or deletions:
     • No changes to any of the survey item text and response options.
     • No reordering of survey items.
   • Placement: Supplemental item sets should be added to the end of the SOPS Medical Office Survey, after Section G: Overall Ratings, just before the Background Questions section. Be sure to include the introductory text and subheadings. Add the SOPS Medical Office Background Questions after these supplemental item sets.
3. Data Use Agreement (DUA) (PDF, 188 KB, PDF HELP): Each medical office is required to submit a signed DUA. Please sign and return a copy of your DUA via:
   • The Data Use Agreement (DUA) Submission Portal
   • Email DatabasesOnSafetyCulture@westat.com, or
   • Fax 1-888-852-8277
4. Medical Office Survey Data: Users will need to upload their medical office survey data, conforming to the Medical Office Survey Data File Specifications (PDF, 383 KB, PDF HELP) or the Medical Office Survey with Diagnostic Safety and/or Value and Efficiency Supplemental Item Set Data File Specifications (PDF, 383 KB, PDF HELP).
   • Sample Medical Office Survey Data File (XLSX, 18 KB)
   • Sample Medical Office Survey with Diagnostic Safety and/or Value and Efficiency Supplemental Item Set Data File (XLSX, 18 KB)

Benefits of Participation and Database Products

• Each participating medical office receives a feedback report comparing their results to the database.
• A free Database Report is produced providing aggregate facility-level statistics. The documents do not include any information identifying participating medical offices.