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Current News
Background
The intent of the HCAHPS initiative is to provide a standardized survey instrument
and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on hospital
care. While many hospitals have collected information on patient satisfaction, prior
to HCAHPS there was no national standard for collecting or publicly reporting patients'
perspectives of care information that would enable valid comparisons to be made
across all hospitals. In order to make "apples to apples" comparisons to support
consumer choice, it was necessary to introduce a standard measurement approach:
the HCAHPS survey, which is also known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey, or Hospital
CAHPS. HCAHPS is a core set of questions that can be combined with a broader, customized
set of hospital-specific items. HCAHPS survey items complement the data hospitals
currently collect to support improvements in internal customer services and quality
related activities.
Three broad goals have shaped the HCAHPS survey. First, the survey is designed to
produce comparable data on the patient's perspective on care that allows objective
and meaningful comparisons between hospitals on domains that are important to consumers.
Second, public reporting of the survey results is designed to create incentives
for hospitals to improve their quality of care. Third, public reporting will serve
to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of
the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment. With
these goals in mind, the HCAHPS project has taken substantial steps to assure that
the survey is credible, useful, and practical. This methodology and the information
it generates are available to the public.
In May 2005, the National Quality Forum (NQF), an organization established to standardize
health care quality measurement and reporting, formally endorsed the CAHPS® Hospital
Survey. The NQF endorsement represents the consensus of many health care providers,
consumer groups, professional associations, purchasers, federal agencies, and research
and quality organizations.
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About the Survey
The HCAHPS survey contains 18 patient perspectives on care and patient rating items
that encompass eight key topics: communication with doctors, communication with
nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, pain management, communication about medicines,
discharge information, cleanliness of the hospital environment, and quietness of
the hospital environment. The survey also includes four screener questions and five
demographic items, which are used for adjusting the mix of patients across hospitals
and for analytical purposes. The survey is 27 questions in length.
There are four approved modes of administration for the CAHPS® Hospital Survey:
1) Mail Only; 2) Telephone Only; 3) Mixed (mail followed by telephone); and 4) Active
Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
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Participation (revised 4/9/2010)
To participate in HCAHPS Data Collection and Public Reporting, all hospitals self-administering
the survey, hospitals administering the survey for multiple sites, and survey vendors
must meet certain Program Requirements and must be in compliance with the requirements
in the
HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines, V. 5.0. In addition, hospitals/survey
vendors must submit a Participation Form to the HCAHPS Project Team for approval
prior to the administration of the HCAHPS survey.
Please note: At a minimum, the hospital's/survey vendor's Project Manager is required
to participate in the HCAHPS Training. Hospitals that have contracted with a survey
vendor to collect HCAHPS survey data are not required to attend training. CMS strongly
recommends that hospitals newly joining HCAHPS participate in a dry run, if feasible,
prior to beginning to collect HCAHPS data on an ongoing basis to meet the Reporting
Hospital Quality Data Annual Payment Update (RHQDAPU) program requirements. Please
see the http://www.hcahpsonline.org website
for a schedule of upcoming dry runs.
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HCAHPS and IPPS Payment Provisions (revised 10/17/2008)
On August 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) issued a
final rule to update the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for
fiscal year (FY) 2009. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has
issued final rule CMS-1390-F, "Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment
Systems and Fiscal Year 2009 Rates." It was published in the August 19, 2008,
Federal
Register.
The final rule can be viewed and downloaded from
IPPS Regulations and Notices section of the CMS website. Details regarding
the RHQDAPU program begin on page 165 of the PDF downloadable file.
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For More Information
To learn more about the HCAHPS survey, please see the HCAHPS Fact Sheet found at
the "
Facts" button on this
website.
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To Provide Comments or Ask Questions
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Internet Citation
Please use the following citation when referencing material on this website.
http://www.hcahpsonline.org. Centers for
Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD.
Month, Date, Year the page was
accessed.
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