Questions
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- Where can I find software-specific instructions for the survey?
- What is the concealed ID?
- How can I get help completing the survey?
- How do I know if I successfully submitted the survey?
Where can I find software-specific instructions for the survey?
Just click the name of your software below to access instructions for that practice management software.
You can either view the instructions on your screen, or navigate to File > Download, then select how you’d like to download the file, PDF or Word (*.docx), among other options. Now for the instruction links:
Click your software to access instructions:
What is the concealed ID?
We value your anonymity greatly, and we understand that you may not want to share your practice data with other SOMSA members. For many years, we had an outside CPA firm administer the survey. While the committee liked that approach very much, as it maintained clear separation between survey data and SOMSA, we still regularly heard that the Excel sheet format was difficult.
As the committee considered how to make the survey more simple to complete, we had to find a way to maintain anonymity while also maintaining the integrity of the data. In addition to maintaining anonymity and data integrity, the committee wanted to be able to correct outlier data; the CPA firm could reach out to practices to ask questions when one data point conflicted with another. We also wanted to be able to follow-up with only members who had not yet completed the survey.
In order to be able to nudge non-respondents or follow-up with someone whose data does not fall in line with the rest of the data provided, Linden has assigned each member a concealed ID. The only person with access to the file containing both your name and your concealed ID is Linden. This way, if the committee has questions during the analysis phase, they can provide Linden with the concealed ID of the survey in question, and Linden can reach out to you for clarification without the committee knowing who you are. In this way, we can allow SOMSA members to remain anonymous.
Your concealed ID is a 6-digit number, and it was provided in the email announcing the FY21 benchmarking survey, which was emailed out initially on February 16, 2022. If you cannot locate this email after checking your spam filter, please contact Linden.
How can I get help completing the survey?
If you have questions about the survey, you have a couple ways to get help.
- If your questions are pretty specific, please email your questions to Linden and she’ll pass them along anonymously to the Benchmarking Committee. (Specific questions might include how your practice’s data fits into what the survey question is asking.)
- If your questions are more general, please post your questions in the OMS Practice Questions forum. If you haven’t joined the forum yet, start here. (General questions might include seeking clarification on what a survey question is asking.)
How do I know if I successfully submitted the survey?
To be sure you successfully completed the survey, look for the confirmation screen that says “We sincerely appreciate your participation in the benchmarking survey!”
Please note that when you click “Submit,” if you have fields completed incorrectly (i.e. if you included dollar signs or commas), error messages will appear by those fields and you will not see the confirmation screen when you click “Submit,” so please scroll back up and look for red error message text.
If you’d like to confirm beyond this that your survey was successfully completed, email Linden and ask for confirmation.