CAHPS Announcements

AHRQ Releases New 2024 CAHPS® Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) Chartbook

AHRQ Releases New 2024 CAHPS® Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) Chartbook Results from AHRQ’s 2024 Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Child Hospital Survey Database are now available. 

The CAHPS Child Hospital Survey (Child HCAHPS) assesses inpatient care experiences of pediatric patients (17 and younger) and their parents or guardians. This survey covers many topics addressed by the adult version of the CAHPS Hospital Survey (HCAHPS) and additional topics relevant to pediatric care. 

Selected results from the 2024 Child HCAHPS Survey Database includes 7,250 voluntary survey responses submitted by 40 hospitals. Survey data were collected from January through December 2023. 

Key findings include: 

• High-scoring measures were Communication Between You and Your Child’s Doctors and Privacy When Talking with Doctors, Nurses, and Other Providers. 
• Low-scoring measures were Preventing Mistakes and Helping You Report Concerns and Quietness of the Hospital Room.

Select to access the results via the Chartbook (PDF 1.4 MB), Infographic (PDF, 492 KB), or Data Tools Dashboard.

CAHPS® Home and Community-Based Services Survey Database Submission

Voluntary data submission to the Home and Community-Based Services Survey Database will be open August 5-23, 2024. The CAHPS® Database will accept all survey data collected between January 1-December 23, 2023. 

Participation is free and will facilitate comparisons of Home and Community-Based Service 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.

AHRQ Webcast Materials for “Participating in the 2023 CAHPS® Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS CAHPS) Survey Database: What You Need to Know”

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.

AHRQ Webcast Materials for “AHRQ’s CAHPS Surveys: The Rationale for Case Mix and Mode Adjustments”

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.

AHRQ Webcast Materials for “Listening to the Voice of the Patient: Using Multiple Feedback Methods to Complement CAHPS Survey Data

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 Releases New CAHPS® Outpatient Mental Health Survey

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.

CAHPS® Health Plan Survey Database Submission

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.

CAHPS® Child Hospital Survey Database Submission

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.

AHRQ Webcast Materials for “Improving Response Rates and Representativeness for CAHPS Survey Data: An Overview of Web-based and Other Strategies”

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.

Summary of CAHPS® 2023 Virtual Research Meeting on Patient Experience, Patient Safety, and Provider Well-Being

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.

AHRQ Releases New 2024 CAHPS® Home and Community-Based Services Survey (HCBS) Chartbook

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)

AHRQ Releases New 2023 CAHPS Health Plan Survey Chartbook

Results from AHRQ’s 2023 CAHPS® Health Plan Survey Database are now available on AHRQ’s CAHPS Data Tools 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)