Quick links: HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 (QAG V19.0) Addendum | HCAHPS FINAL Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 Summary of Changes | REMINDER: Survey Administration Activities Must Comply with Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Regulations 

HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 (QAG V19.0) Addendum

The Addendum to the HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 (QAG) has been released. The Addendum includes clarifications to the current QAG version, as well as a limited number of new items, effective with July 1, 2026 patient discharges. Survey vendors and hospitals must review this Addendum in full and update internal processes and procedures accordingly.

As a reminder, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not be releasing a new version of the QAG in 2026.

Please refer to the Survey Instruments page on the HCAHPS Website to access the current versions of the HCAHPS Survey materials.

HCAHPS FINAL Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 (HCAHPS FINAL QAG V19.0)

The HCAHPS FINAL Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 has been revised from HCAHPS DRAFT Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 and includes additional updates and enhancements that provide a comprehensive resource for hospitals and survey vendors participating in the HCAHPS initiative. Please use HCAHPS FINAL QAG V19.0 for January 1, 2025 patient discharges and forward.

HCAHPS FINAL Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 Summary of Changes

The HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 Summary of Changes is a reference tool that highlights the major changes from the DRAFT HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0 to the HCAHPS FINAL Quality Assurance Guidelines V19.0.

REMINDER: Survey Administration Activities Must Comply with Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) Regulations

The HCAHPS Project Team would like to remind approved HCAHPS Survey vendors and self-administering hospitals that all survey administration activities must be conducted in accordance with Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) regulations. Predictive or auto dialers are permitted as long as they are compliant with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC) regulations as promulgated under the TCPA. Cell phone numbers in the sample must be identified so that systems with auto dialers do not call cell phone numbers. Survey vendors may identify cell phone numbers through an external database and hospitals may identify cell phone numbers upon patient admission.

This page was last modified on (04/27/26)