Update on CAHPS® Surveys (Text Version)

On September 20, 2011, Judith Sangl made this presentation at the 2011 Annual Conference. Select to access the PowerPoint® presentation (775 KB). Plugin Software Help.

Slide 1

Update on CAHPS® Surveys
AHRQ Annual Meeting

Lunch and Learn Session #46
September 20, 2011

Judith Sangl, ScD
AHRQ CAHPS® Project Officer

Slide 2

CAHPS® Program

• CAHPS = Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems.
• Most widely used survey tools for assessing the patient's experience with care.
• Initiated and funded by AHRQ since 1995.
• Endorsed by National Quality Forum (NQF).
• Consortium members include: AHRQ, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), RAND, Yale/Harvard, and Westat.

Slide 3

CAHPS

Obtain assessments from consumers of the quality of care that they receive in different settings which:

• Inform selection decisions.
• Identify areas where providers and organizations can improve their services.
• Provide quality information to care providers and other audiences.

Slide 4

CAHPS Design Principles

• Emphasis on patients:
  • What patients value with respect to the setting of care.
  • Aspects of care for which patients are the best or only source of information.
  • Extensive testing with patients and families.
• Reports and ratings about experiences.
• Standardization:
  • Questionnaires, data collection protocols, analysis, reporting.
• Multiple versions for diverse populations:
  • Adult; Child; English & Spanish versions.
• All CAHPS surveys and products are in the public domain.

Slide 5

CAHPS Family of Surveys

• Integrated system of products and strategies:
  • Ambulatory Care Surveys.
  • Facility Surveys.
  • Supplemental Item Sets.
  • Custom items can be added.

CAHPS Core Questionnaire Items + Supplemental Items = CAHPS Survey

Slide 6

CAHPS Ambulatory Care Surveys

• Health Plan Surveys:
  • Adult and child.
  • Medicare, Medicaid & commercial.
  • Managed care, Fee-for-service (FFS), preferred provider organization (PPO).
  • NCQA version.
  • Disenrollee.
• Clinician & Group Surveys:
  • Adult and child.
  • Visit-based and past 12 months versions.
  • Survey updates (version 2.0) released soon.

Slide 7

CAHPS Ambulatory Surveys, cont'd

• Clinician & Group Surveys (cont.):
  • American Indian Survey.
  • Surgical Care Survey.
• Other Ambulatory Surveys:
  • Home Health Care Survey.
  • ECHO Survey (Behavioral Health Care).
  • Dental Plan Survey.

Slide 8

CAHPS Facility Surveys

• Hospital Survey.
• In-Center Hemodialysis Survey.
• Nursing Home Surveys (endorsed by NQF in March 2011) (New):
  • In-person interview for long-term residents.
  • Recently discharged short-stay residents:
    • Time limited endorsement—being finalized.
  • Residents' family members.

Slide 9

CAHPS Supplemental Item Sets

Clinician & Group Survey Item Sets

• Patient-Centered Medical Home (New).
• Health Literacy (New).
• Cultural Competence (New).
• Health Information Technology (New).

Health Plan Item Sets

• Children with Chronic Conditions.
• People with Mobility Impairments.

Additional supplemental items available for:

• Health Plan Survey.
• Clinician & Group Survey.

Slide 10

Patient-Centered Medical Home (PCMH) Set

• Designed as a supplemental item set for the CAHPS Clinician and Group Survey.
• PCMH-specific topic areas covered:
  • Coordination of Care.
  • Comprehensiveness.
  • Shared decisionmaking.
  • Whole person orientation.
  • Self-management support.

Slide 11

Health Literacy Set

• Designed as a supplemental set of 29 items for the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey.
• Six main topic areas covered:
  • Communication with doctors and nurses.
  • Communication about health problems/concerns.
  • Communication about medicines.
  • Communication about tests.
  • Communication about forms.
  • Disease self-management.

Slide 12

Cultural Competence Domains

• Designed as a supplemental item set for the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey.
• 3 reporting composites:
  • Doctors are polite and considerate.
  • Doctors give advice on staying healthy.
  • Doctors are caring and inspire trust.
• Examples of other topics include:
  • Equitable treatment.
  • Language access.
  • Overall ratings (trust, interpreter services).

Slide 13

Health Information Technology Set

• Designed as a supplemental item set for the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey.
• 3 reporting composites:
  • Getting timely answers to medical questions by e-mail.
  • Helpfulness of provider's use of computers during a visit.
  • Helpfulness of provider's web site in giving you information about your care and tests.

Slide 14

The CAHPS Database

• National repository of data for selected CAHPS surveys.
• Two major applications:
  • Benchmarking to evaluate health system performance and support quality improvement.
  • Research on consumer assessments of quality.
• Funded by AHRQ and administered by Westat through the CAHPS User Network.

Slide 15

CAHPS Database Components

• CAHPS Health Plan Survey Database:
  • 4.3 million records collected.
  • 12 Annual Chartbooks (1998—present).
• CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey Database:
  • Just launched in May 2011 (New).
• CAHPS Hospital Survey Database:
  • .8 million records collected.
  • 3 Annual Chartbooks (2006—2008).

Slide 16

CG-CAHPS Database Composition
(as of December 2010)

Slide 17

CG-CAHPS Online Reports
(https://cahps.ahrq.gov)

Image: A screen shot of the CAHPS Benchmarking Database web site is shown.

View Comparative Results.

Download Reports.

Slide 18

CAHPS Improvement Guide
(Updated Spring 2011) (New)

Image: A screen shot of the CAHPS Improvement Guide web site is shown.

Slide 19

CAHPS User Support Services (Free!)

• Survey Instruments and Instructions:
  • https://cahps.ahrq.gov.
  • Redesigned CAHPS web site launched fall 2011 (New).
• CAHPS Technical support: New)
  • E-mail: CAHPS1@ahrq.gov.
  • Phone: 800-492-9261.
• CAHPS Database Technical support:
  • E-mail: NCBD1@ahrq.gov.
  • Phone: 888-808-7108.
• Sign up for CAHPS LISTSERV® for latest updates.

Slide 20

Additional QI Resources

• CAHPS Improving Quality site: https://cahps.ahrq.gov:
  • Case studies of QI initiatives.
  • Supplemental survey questions.
  • Archived Webcasts and presentations.
  • Links to related resources:
    • Podcast series on quality improvement—released soon.