The CAHPS surveys of patient experience assess quality of care from the patient point of view in various ambulatory and institutional setting

The goals of the CAHPS program are twofold:

• To develop standardized surveys that organizations can use to collect comparable information on patients’ experience with care.

• To generate tools and resources to support the dissemination and use of comparative survey results to inform the public and improve health care quality

The three most widely used CAHPS surveys:

• The CAHPS Health Plan Survey, which asks enrollees in commercial plans, Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP), and Medicare about their experiences with health plan services and ambulatory care.

• The CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey (CG-CAHPS), which asks patients to report on their experiences with primary or specialty care received from providers and their staff in ambulatory settings.

• The CAHPS Hospital Survey (HCAHPS), which asks patients about the care delivered during an inpatient stay at a hospital facility.

Principles Guiding CAHPS Survey Development

The development of CAHPS surveys is governed by a set of principles meant to ensure that the surveys are scientifically sound and provide information that is specific, understandable, and actionable. These principles influence survey content and design, survey administration, and issues around the reporting of results. In keeping with these principles, CAHPS surveys—

• Ask about aspects of care for which a patient or enrollee is the best or only source of information.

• Ask about the aspects of care that patients say are most important.

• Ask patients to report on the health care they receive.

• Reflect input from a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, administrators, accrediting bodies and policymakers.

• Build on existing research and available tools.

• Are standardized to ensure that data collection, analyses and reports are consistent across all users of a given survey.

Key users of the CAHPS surveys:

• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

• For many of the CAHPS surveys, CMS is the organization that sponsors the national implementation of the survey, sets the policies for survey administration, analyzes the data, and publishes the results in private and public reports (including Web sites such as HospitalCompare and PhysicianCompare).

• In some cases, such as HCAHPS, CMS also uses the survey scores along with other quality measures to help determine payment incentives that reward high-performing health care providers.

• The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).

• NCQA incorporates CAHPS Health Plan Survey results into its accreditation process and its national performance reports. It also uses a version of the Clinician & Group Survey for its Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Recognition Program.

• Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and Department of Defense (DOD).

• The VHA and DOD use versions of the Clinician & Group Survey and HCAHPS to assess patient experience in both military and privately contracted clinics and hospitals across the country.

• Multi-stakeholder organizations.

• The CG-CAHPS and HCAHPS surveys have become part of the portfolio of performance measures used by local, regional, and State collaborative organizations committed to improving primary, specialty, and inpatient care in their communities.

• Health systems, physician practices, hospitals, and other health care providers

• Identify their strengths and weaknesses and to help develop strategies for improving patients’ experiences with care delivered in their offices and institutions.

The CAHPS Database

The CAHPS Database is a compilation of survey results from a large pool of survey users

• Enables participants to compare their own results to relevant benchmarks (i.e., reference points such as national and regional averages).

• Facilitates comparisons of CAHPS survey results by and among survey sponsors

• Offers an important source of primary data for research related to patient and consumer assessments of quality as measured by CAHPS surveys.

Learn more about the principles at

https://cahps.ahrq.gov/about-

	Created by Lydia Elliott, Ed.D almost 8 years ago

Domain II: To learn more about the principles visit https://cahps.ahrq.gov/about-