ASPEN SURVEY EXPLORER
TRAINING GUIDE
FOR NH CERTIFICATION ENTRY
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This guide is designed to take you step-by-step through the certification process. During
this process, you will use ASPEN Survey Explorer for the certification process from the
point of entering a survey until you have completed the survey.
This manual is separated into various sections to walk you through the process beginning
with Logging into the System. There will often be several ways to access menu items.
(e.g., right-click on a name or select from the tool bar menu) To make this guide more user
friendly, we documented only one way to perform each of these tasks.
This program involves several steps. If you start at the beginning of this document and
follow the instructions step by step, you will have a good understanding of the program
when you are finished. In addition, we have included many screen prints to help in
understanding this program.
Alternative methods of access and detailed information about ASE functions are included in
the ASPEN Survey Explorer Reference Guide. This training guide includes some crossreferences to the ASE Reference Guide, which appear as follows:
 Chapter 2: Facilities, “Facility Definition”
This cross-reference directs you to Chapter 2 entitled Facilities and specifically to
the section entitled “Facility Definition” in the ASE Reference Guide.
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Table of Contents
Logging into ASPEN Survey Explorer ................... 1-1
Entering a New Facility ......................................... 2-1
Importing a Survey ................................................ 3-1
Entering a New Survey Event ............................... 4-1
Entering Survey Findings ...................................... 5-1
Forms .................................................................... 6-1
Printing Forms ....................................................... 7-1
Exporting a Survey ................................................ 8-1
Quick References .................................................. 9-1
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Logging Into ASPEN Survey Explorer
After you have the ASPEN Survey Explorer program installed on your computer or the
network in your office, double-click the ASPEN Survey Explorer icon on your desktop.
The first thing Survey Explorer requires is a login name (see below). If you have used this
program before your name will appear alphabetically in the list. This list can be
manipulated by pressing the up () and down () keys on your keyboard or the Page Up
and Page Down keys.
1) Highlight your name and select the OK button.
 Chapter 1: Getting Started, “Starting and Exiting ASPEN Survey Explorer”
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In the event that your name does not appear on the list, you must enter your personal
information into the system so that your name will appear in the list of surveyors.
2) Select the New button at the bottom of the Welcome to ASPEN screen. The Enter New
Staff Information window will appear (see below).
 Chapter 4: Survey Teams and Survey Transfer, “Adding Surveyors”
3) Enter your Federal Surveyor ID assigned by your HCFA Regional Office contact. If you
know your State Personnel ID, you may enter it. Enter your first name, middle initial,
and last name. For the Title Code, the program has a drop down box as indicated by
the down arrow next to the Title Code field. When you click the down arrow, a number
of disciplines will appear. Select the proper discipline code. Enter your email address if
desired. In the Login Detail section, fill in the Network Login, Oracle Login, and Oracle
Password. If you are unsure of your network login, Oracle login and Oracle password,
contact your State ASPEN Coordinator. Select the OK button to save your information
and close the window. The Welcome to ASPEN:Please Select Active Surveyor window
will appear with your name in the list of surveyors. Highlight your name and select OK.
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Entering a New Facility
Before you can actually go out and perform a survey, the facility information must exist in
the ASPEN Survey Explorer program. MDS and OASIS facilities should be entered
through ASPEN Central Office (ACO) or ASPEN Regional Office (ARO). Those systems
generate a Login ID and Password for the facility to use to submit assessment data.
1) Before adding a new facility check to make sure the facility does not already exist in the
database. To do this, select the Find button (see screen below).
 Chapter 1: Getting Started, "Finding Facilities and Surveys"
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2) The following Find screen appears. Enter the Medicare ID for the provider in the Text
section. Make sure the radio button next to the Medicare ID field is filled in and select
Find Now.
3) Since the facility is not in the database the following message is displayed.
4) Select OK.
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5) Select the Facility icon on the main toolbar. See screen print example below.
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6) The following Define New Facility window appears:
 Chapter 2: Facilities, “Facility Definition”
7) Fill out the as much information as you have. State Facility (ID), (Facility) Type,
Name, City, and State are required fields.
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8) To enter an additional address for the facility, select the Mailing Address tab and enter
the information. (See screen print)
 Chapter 2: Facilities, “Mailing Address”
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9) Select the Buildings/Wings tab. (See screen print)
 Chapter 2: Facilities, “Buildings/Wings”
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10) To enter building or wing information, select the New button. The following confirmation
message appears. This is a warning message stating new buildings will not
automatically be transferred to ACO. Contact your supervisor to make sure the building
is also added in ACO.
11) Select Yes on the confirmation message. The Define New Building screen below
appears. Fill in the appropriate information. The required fields are displayed in yellow.
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12) Select OK on the Define New Building screen after you are done entering the building
information. You are returned to the Buildings/Wings tab on the facility window.
ASPEN was coded to display buildings/wings in different colors on the Buildings/Wings
tab. White means the building/wing is open with no effective date. Blue means the
building/wing is open and has an effective date. Grey means the building/wing is
closed. Green means the building/wing is a state licensure only building/wing. Below is
an example of how these are displayed on the Buildings/Wings tab.
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13) Select OK when you are finished entering the facility information. The facility will be
displayed under the appropriate alpha character in the tree view. (See screen print)
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Importing a Survey
MDS and OASIS facilities must be entered through ASPEN Central Office (ACO) or
ASPEN Regional Office (ARO). Those systems generate a Login ID and Password for the
facility to use to submit assessment data. Survey team members will often create a survey
shell in ACO and import the shell into ASE to enter findings.
To import a survey shell and record your findings:
1) Using ASE, import the survey shell that was created in ACO. To do this, insert the
diskette containing the survey shell into your A: drive and select the Import icon on
the main ASE toolbar (see screen print below).
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2) The following Import screen appears.
 Chapter 4: Survey Teams and Survey Transfer, “Importing Surveys and
Facilities“
3) Select OK. The following screen appears.
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4) Highlight the survey(s) you want to import if they are not already highlighted and
select OK. The survey(s) are imported into ASE. The following screen appears.
5) From the Alpha tab, select the plus sign next to the name of your facility. An open
survey is displayed under the facility. At this point you can start writing up any
deficiencies that you have found on for that survey.
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Entering a New Survey Event
To perform a survey on your facility, you must first select the facility from the main menu.
1) Select the plus sign next to the alpha character(s) that start the name of your facility in
the tree view. All facilities starting with that alpha character(s) are displayed. Select the
plus sign next to your facility. The tree view expands to show all surveys for this facility.
Below is a sample of this tree view expanded.
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2) At this point you want to enter a new survey for your facility. To do this, right click on
the name of the facility. A pop-up menu will appear. Select New Survey. The Define
Survey window appears. Below is a sample of the Define Survey window.
 Chapter 3: Surveys and Citations, “Creating Surveys”
3) The Start date is the day the survey team enters the facility. The Exit date is the day
the survey team leaves the facility.
[TIP: To enter today’s date in any date field, you can hold down the Ctrl key and select
the down arrow box.]
4) The next item is Status. The choices are 1 Open or 2 Closed. The system is defaulted
to show 1 Open.
5) The Facility Details icon shows the facility information. You cannot change any facility
information from this screen.
6) In the Type section, you will see Health and LSC (Life Safety Code) options. Health is
defaulted and is the appropriate choice for Home Health Agencies.
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7) The Regulation(s) section identifies only the pertinent regulation type associated with
the facility as you describe it. Only Home Health regulations show up for home health
agencies. Life Safety Code regulations and Long Term Care regulations show up for
nursing home facilities. Select the box beside Long Term Care Facilities regulations.
8) The Team Roster section displays the staff assigned to this survey. When you select
the Update button, a list of all surveyors currently in the system is displayed. Check the
box beside an individual’s name to add that person to the team roster (see below).
 Chapter 4: Survey Teams and Survey Transfer, “Adding Survey Team Members”
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9) You can also select the New button to add a new surveyor or select the Modify button
to modify an existing surveyor. Select the OK button. You are returned to the Define
Survey window.
10) In the Survey Categories section, select a category.
 Appendix B: Survey Types for definitions of all survey categories.
11) Select the box beside Initial Certification in the Survey Categories section.
12) The following are the options for Extent: Routine/Std Survey, Extended Survey LTC/HH,
Partial Ext. Survey, and Other Survey. In the Extent(s) section, the default is
Routine/Std Survey. This is appropriate.
13) Select the OK button. The message box shown below will appear.
14) You can select Yes and proceed to the Citation Manager window or select No and
return to the main ASE window. For now, select No. The new survey is displayed in
the Tree view.
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Entering Survey Findings (Deficiencies)
At this point in the survey process you have created a survey event. The next step is to
record your findings.
Citing Deficiencies
1) Right-click on the survey you created or imported. The pop-up menu shown below
appears.
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2) From this menu, select Citation Manager to start documenting any deficiencies you
have found. See example below of the Citation Manager window. Note that the name of
the facility appears on the top bar of the window. A listing of the regulations appears on
the right side in the Regulations section. The Team Roster appears in the lower left
portion in the Team Roster section.
 Chapter 3: Surveys and Citations, “Entering Citations”
3) There are hundreds of tags listed. In order to find a specific tag that properly matches
the specific findings, you can use the Find button in the lower left corner of the Citation
Manager window to search citation text, interpretive guidelines and regulations.
 Chapter 3: Surveys and Citations, “Searching Citation Text, Interpretive
Guidelines, and Regulations “
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4) To use Tag ‘0154’, select tag ‘0154’ and drag and drop it in the Citations section. Once
the tag is dropped in the Citations box, the Citation Properties window below will
appear. If you are entering a LSC citation, you must select the building the tag is being
cited against in the Buildings field.
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5) Add the Severity/Scope of the tag by select the Grid icon. The following screen
appears.
6) Select the letter of the severity you want to cite. You are returned to the Citation
Properties screen.
7) The POC Detail section contains Plan of Correction (POC) dates. The POC is used to
track whether or not the facility has corrected the problem that was noted in the survey
process.
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8) Select OK. The Citation window opens where you can enter in the findings pertaining to
this citation tag (see below).
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9) You may enter your findings on this window. Note there are two icons at the bottom left
of this window (REG and IG). The REG icon will open a window that shows the current
regulation text on which you are working. The IG icon displays the Interpretative
Guidelines for the regulation on which you are working. Below is an example of the
Citation window with the REG and IG icons displayed. The REG and IG are set as
toggle switches so that you can open and close them as you wish by selecting either the
REG or IG icon.
 Chapter 3: Surveys and Citations, “Viewing Regulations and Interpretive Guidelines“
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10) The findings relating to this regulation should be typed in the top section of the Citation
window. When finished, select OK. You will now see tag ‘0154’ and your name in the
Citations section of the Citation Manager window.
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Forms
Every survey ends with a number of forms that need to be completed.
1) Select the Forms icon from the Citation Manager window. The Select Form(s) to print
window below will appear.
 Chapter 6: HCFA Forms, Reports, and Letters, “Printing HCFA Forms“
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HCFA 670
2) Select the 670 Entry button. The HCFA 670 Workload Detail window will appear.
 Chapter 6: HCFA Forms, Reports, and Letters, “Entering HCFA 670 Information “
3) Enter the hours into the correct columns. You can tab to the next column.
4) If you have multiple surveyors, you can cascade the hours for all the surveyors by
highlighting the surveyor you just entered hours for and selecting Set All Hours. The
following screen appears to verify you want to cascade the hours to everyone.
5) Select Yes. The hours entered are cascaded to all of the surveyors on the 670 form.
Select Close on the HCFA 670 Workload Detail window and you will return to the Select
Forms window.
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HCFA 1539 C & T (Certification and Transmittal)
The C & T captures information regarding the compliance of the facility with CMS
regulations.
1) Select the 1539 Entry button. (See screen print below.)
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2) The following C & T 1539 form screen appears. The field Certified As (L12) must be
completed if ODIE is expected to accept this form. Enter the appropriate information.
 Chapter 6: HCFA Forms, Reports, and Letters, “Entering HCFA 1539 Information “
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3) If you mark the facility as ‘In Compliance’ on the Details screen, you can select the
Compliance tab. (See the screen below)
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4) Use the Remarks tab to enter comments regarding compliance (see below).
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5) Use the Beds tab to enter bed information (see below).
6) Select OK. You are returned to the Select Form(s) to Print window.
7) Click Cancel. The Select Form(s) to Print window closes.
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Printing Forms
After you have documented your findings and completed the forms, the next step is to print
all of the forms and mail them to your CMS Regional Office.
1) On the Select Form(s) to print window (see below), select the box beside the form you
want to print and select OK. You can select multiple forms. For now, select the box
beside HCFA 2567.
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2) The Customize Survey Report Form window appears which allows you to customize the
HCFA 2567 form. This window was designed to allow a state to customize the CMS
forms to their own state requirements. For example, if your state requires the Surveyor
ID numbers to be printed on the form, you may select that particular box. Or if your
state requires that scope and severity be included, you may select that particular box.
When you select OK, the 2567 will be generated according to your specifications, and
any other forms you have checked off on the Select Form(s) to print window will be
generated and available for printing.
 Chapter 6: HCFA Forms, Reports, and Letters, “Entering HCFA 2567 Information“
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3) There are several icons listed at the top of the print preview window (see below). The
Windows maximize icon will display the entire form on your screen and displays a print
preview window that does not allow information to be altered.
 Chapter 6: HCFA Forms, Reports, and Letters, “The Report Preview Window “
4) Select the x icon in the upper right hand corner of the preview window to close the
window. You are returned to the Select Form(s) to print window. Select Cancel. The
Select Form(s) to print window closes. You are returned to the Citation Manager
window. Select the Done button. You are returned to the main ASE window.
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Exporting a Survey
This function is used to pull the information entered in ASE for a survey and export it to a
disk.
1) First, select the survey you want to export. You need to select the plus sign next to your
facility. Then select the survey you want to export. Drag and drop that survey onto the
Export icon located under the main menu on the toolbar (see below).
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2) The following window is displayed:
 Chapter 4: Survey Teams and Survey Transfer, “Exporting Surveys and
Facilities“
3) At this point, place a formatted disk in the A: drive and select OK. The system will
transfer all the files relating to this survey to the diskette, which can then be mailed or emailed to a home office for review. You will receive a confirmation message stating the
survey was exported (see below).
4) Select OK. The Export message window closes. You are returned to the main ASE
window.
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Quick References
The Quick References section is designed to help you navigate the system more quickly,
so you do not need to spend the time looking for assistance in the book. Quick References
will assist getting you to the right place faster.
Logging into Survey Explorer
Page 1-1
Type your personnel information in the system, if it isn’t already there, so that you will be on
the list of surveyors. Then highlight your name and select OK.
Entering a New Facility
Page 2-1
To enter a new facility record, select the Facility icon on the main toolbar. Enter the facility
information on the Define New Facility window and select OK.
Importing a Survey
Page 3-1
Import the survey shell from a diskette. Select the Import icon on the main ASE toolbar.
Entering a New Survey Event
Page 4-1
This function allows you to set up a survey event and enter basic survey information in
preparation for your onsite visit.
Select the plus sign next to the alpha group containing the first initial of the facility name.
Right-click the name of the facility.
Select New Survey.
Start and Exit dates must be entered. Regulation(s), Categories and Extent(s) must be
specified.
Select OK when finished.
Entering Survey Findings
Page 5-1
Select the plus sign next to the alpha group containing the first initial of the facility name.
Select the plus sign next to the name of the facility.
Right-click the survey.
Select Citation Manager.
Select relevant tag(s) and drag and drop them from the Regulations section to the Citations
section.
Select OK in the Citation Properties window to close it.
Enter your findings in the Citation window.
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Select OK to close the Citation window.
When finished citing tags and entering findings, select the Done button in the Citation
Manager window.
Forms
Page 6-1
Select the plus sign next to the alpha group containing the first initial of the facility name.
Select the plus sign next to the name of the facility.
Right-click the survey.
Select the Print Forms button.
To enter 670 and 1539 data, use the 670 Entry and the 1539 Entry buttons.
Printing Forms
Page 7-1
Use in the event your State requires you to leave a copy of the survey forms with the
facility.
Select the plus sign next to the alpha group containing the first initial of the facility name.
Select the plus sign next to the name of the facility.
Right-click the survey.
Select the Print Forms button.
Select the box beside the form(s) you wish to print. (multiple boxes may be checked)
Select OK.
If you select the HCFA 2567 form, you may customize what is displayed.
Select the Print button in the preview window’s toolbar to print the form. Select the x in the
upper right hand corner to close the preview window.
Exporting a Survey
Page 8-1
Export the survey to diskette to mail or email to your home office for review. Drag and drop
the survey on the Export icon of the main ASE toolbar.
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