CAHPS Announcements
On June 6th, AHRQ’s CAHPS® program hosted a free webcast that provided information about participating in the 2023 CAHPS Home and Community Based Services (HCBS CAHPS) Survey Database. Speakers reviewed the HCBS CAHPS Survey and discuss the benefits and steps involved in participating. The database will display results by State and HCBS program types. Voluntary data submission opens August 5-23, 2024, to all states and is free.
Access the recording of the webcast and download related materials.
On June 5th, AHRQ’s CAHPS® program hosted a free webcast that discussed the rationale for adjusting CAHPS survey results by case mix and distribution mode. Speakers addressed common misunderstandings about applying case mix and mode adjustments, situations that merit factoring in adjustments to data results, typical variables used to make adjustments, and how adjusters differ across various CAHPS surveys.
Access the recording of the webcast and download related materials.
On May 8, AHRQ’s CAHPS® program hosted a free webcast that detailed how patient experience professionals use multiple feedback methods to fully capture the patient voice. Speakers described how additional feedback methods complement CAHPS data, and how this integration of data sources informed their efforts to identify improvement areas and potential solutions.
Access the recording of the webcast and download related materials.
AHRQ recently released the CAHPS Outpatient Mental Health Survey. The survey is a standardized instrument that asks adult patients about their experiences receiving mental health and substance abuse services in any outpatient setting within the past 6 months.
This survey was developed by the CAHPS research team in response to changes in the way mental health and substance abuse services are provided, and as a replacement for the CAHPS Experience of Care & Health Outcomes (ECHO) Survey, released in 2003.
Potential users of this survey include mental health providers, medical groups, hospitals, health systems, health plans, healthcare monitoring organizations, and State agencies. Questions contained within the Outpatient Mental Health Survey focus on experiences with treatment and counseling services – including getting help between appointments and potential barriers to care.
Read more about the CAHPS Outpatient Mental Health Survey.
Voluntary data submission to the Health Plan Survey Database will be open June 3-28, 2024. The CAHPS® Database will accept all survey data collected between July 1, 2023-June 28,2024.
Participation is free and will facilitate comparisons of Health Plan survey results. Participating organizations will receive a private feedback report comparing their results to aggregated, de-identified results from all database participants for improvement purposes.
Voluntary data submission to Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) Database will be open Mar. 11 – Apr. 12, 2024. The CAHPS® Database will accept all survey data collected between Jan. – Dec. 2023.
Participation is free and will facilitate comparisons of Child HCAHPS survey results by children’s hospitals and inpatient pediatric departments that administer this survey of patient care experience. Participating hospitals will receive a private feedback report comparing their results to aggregated, de-identified results from all database participants for improvement purposes.
On January 11, AHRQ’s CAHPS® program hosted a free webcast about strategies for improving survey response rates and the representativeness of survey data, particularly for those surveys required by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Speakers discussed ways to increase participation in CAHPS surveys, as well as current experiments to test web-first administration modes for Medicare CAHPS and Hospice CAHPS. Speakers also discussed technological approaches to increase response rates.
Access the recording of the webcast and download related materials.
AHRQ’s CAHPS program has published a summary of presentations and discussions at its 2023 Virtual Research Meeting. This meeting explored how data from CAHPS surveys and other patient experience information can improve patient safety and the well-being of the healthcare workforce.
Access the meeting summary and information about previous research meetings.
Results from AHRQ’s 2024 CAHPS Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Survey Database are now available. The 2024 HCBS CAHPS Survey Database includes 6,053 survey responses voluntarily submitted by State Medicaid agencies and managed care plans from 24 HCBS programs. Program types include older adults, physical disability, acquired brain injury, intellectual and developmental disability, mental health and substance use disorders, as well as programs that serve multiple populations.
Key findings include:
- Physical Safety was the highest-scoring composite measure.
- Staff were not available to help with dressing, showering, or bathing was the lowest-scoring composite measure.
- Rating of Personal Assistance and Behavioral Health Staff was the highest rating item.
Review results:
- 2024 HCBS Chartbook (PDF, 1.7 MB)
- 2024 Highlights: Infographic (PDF, 439 KB)
Results from AHRQ’s 2023 CAHPS® Health Plan Survey Database are now available on AHRQ’s website. The 2023 CAHPS Health Plan Survey Database includes 191,784 survey responses voluntarily submitted for Adult Medicaid, Child Medicaid, and Children’s Health Insurance Program enrollee populations. Survey data were collected from July 2022 through June 2023.
Key findings from the 2023 CAHPS Health Plan Survey Database include:
- How Well Doctors Communicate was the highest-scoring composite measure.
- Getting Needed Care was the lowest-scoring composite measure.
- Personal Doctor was the highest rating item.
Review results:
- 2023 Health Plan Survey Chartbook (PDF, 92.3 MB)
- 2023 Highlights: Infographic (PDF, 505 KB)
On December 6, AHRQ’s CAHPS® program hosted a free webcast that reviewed recent results from the CAHPS Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) Database and introduced a new Child HCAHPS Narrative Item Set. Speakers provided an overview of the Child HCAHPS Survey, including highlights from the current Database, steps for and benefits of participation in the Database, and details about the new Narrative Item Set.
Access the recording of the webcast and download related materials.
Results from the 2023 CAHPS Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) Database are now available in a Chartbook. The Child HCAHPS Database includes 8,107 survey responses voluntarily submitted by 35 hospitals.
Key findings include:
- Communication Between You and Your Child’s Doctors was the highest-scoring composite measure.
- Privacy When Talking with Doctors, Nurses, and Other Providers was the highest-scoring single item measure.
- Preventing Mistakes and Helping You Report Concerns was the lowest-scoring composite measure.
- Quietness of the Hospital Room was the lowest-scoring single item measure.
Learn more about the Child HCAHPS Survey Database.
Review results:
- 2023 Child HCAHPS Chartbook (PDF, 940 KB)
- 2023 Highlights: Infographic (PDF, 319 KB)
On October 19, AHRQ hosted its annual CAHPS research meeting to explore how data from CAHPS surveys and other patient experience information can help to improve patient safety and the well-being of the healthcare workforce. Donald Berwick, M.D., M.P.P., president emeritus and senior fellow at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, delivered the keynote presentation.
Review the research meeting agenda (PDF, 209 KB).
This webcast provided information about how the agency’s CAHPS Consortium is addressing survey stakeholders’ emerging needs for patient experience measurement and improvement.
Access a recording of the webcast and download related materials.
Results from the 2023 CAHPS Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Survey Database are now available in a Chartbook. The HCBS Survey Database includes 4,731 survey responses voluntarily submitted by State Medicaid agencies and managed care plans for 17 HCBS programs.
Key findings include:
- Physical Safety was the highest-scoring composite measure.
- Staff were available to help with meals was the lowest-scoring composite measure.
- Rating of Personal Assistance and Behavioral Health Staff and Rating of Homemaker were the highest-scoring rating items.
Learn more about the Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) Survey Database.
Review results:
- 2023 HCBS Chartbook (PDF, 2.2 MB)
- 2023 Highlights: Infographic (PDF, 402 KB)
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