CAHPS Surveys During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Given the rapid changes in healthcare delivery throughout the country during the COVID-19 pandemic, healthcare providers and health plans want to know how their efforts are affecting their patients. Feedback about patients’ experiences with care can help healthcare professionals understand whether they are effectively meeting their patients’ needs for care and information.

Assessing Patient Experience With Telehealth

• New survey to assess patient experience with any synchronous visit: One of the greatest changes in ambulatory medical care during the COVID-19 pandemic is the increase in telehealth visits, including phone and video calls. To better understand how patients’ experiences vary across different modes of care delivery, the CAHPS Team has released a beta version of the Clinician & Group Visit Survey 4.0. This survey is designed to be applicable to any type of synchronous ambulatory care visit, regardless of whether the care was delivered in-person, by phone, or by video call.
• Adding supplemental items to assess telehealth. Users who want to learn about patients’ experiences with patient portals and/or other technology may want to adapt existing CAHPS supplemental items:
  • The CAHPS Health Information Technology Item Set includes questions about getting timely appointments through email or a website, getting timely answers to medical questions by email, and the helpfulness of a provider’s website or patient portal with respect to providing information about care and tests.
  • The supplemental items available for the topic "Access" includes questions about wait times for appointments, care delivered after regular office hours, and wait times for care.
• Administering CAHPS surveys to telehealth patients. Given the importance of assessing how well patient needs are being met with telehealth visits, healthcare organizations may want to include telehealth patients in the sampling frame for CAHPS surveys.

Required Use of CAHPS Surveys

AHRQ does not mandate the use of any CAHPS surveys. However, healthcare organizations required to survey patients or enrollees by an external organization -- like the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), a state agency, or a payer or purchaser group -- can consult with them about potential changes to their survey requirements.

• Website links and contact information for CAHPS surveys implemented by CMS can be found on the Contact CAHPS page.
• For information regarding NCQA requirements, visit Coronavirus and NCQA.