Email Updates
Under Development
CAHPS Inpatient Maternal Health Care Survey
To better understand patient experiences with inpatient maternal care, AHRQ’s Yale CAHPS® team is developing a comprehensive maternal health care survey, focusing on aspects of care that matter most to maternity care patients in hospitals and birthing centers. This initiative aims to ensure that maternal care services are aligned with patient needs and priorities, ultimately improving the quality and safety of care provided. Development of the CAHPS Inpatient Maternal Health Care Survey will follow the standard CAHPS survey development process.
Key Steps in the Survey Development Process
| Date | Steps |
|---|---|
| 2023 |
|
| 2024 |
|
| 2025 |
|
| 2026 and beyond |
|
The team anticipates that the CAHPS Maternal Health Care Survey will be released in 2027.
Findings from Focus Groups
- Patients described care from two sets of teams: (1) labor and delivery, and (2) postpartum care. Participants often described these two sets of teams as having different skills, observing that postpartum care teams tended to focus more on care for the newborn than for the mothers themselves.
- Need for questions about postpartum care: While the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey questions are sufficient for measuring nurse communication during labor and delivery, the team found that there is a need for more specialized questions that ask patients about their experiences with postpartum nursing care.
- Patient priorities: Focus group participants outlined several priorities about subjects that they consider important, including:
- Communication with doctors and nurses in labor and delivery and postpartum.
- Avoiding harm during the delivery and postpartum care.
- Feeling supported and heard.
- Respect for mothers’ concerns and questions.
- Shared decision making.
- Presence of family members or support persons during birth.
- Addressing postpartum healthcare needs in conjunction with care for the infant.
- Awareness of desired birthing plans, especially for first-time mothers.
- Providing information about pain management.
Table 1. Expert Panel Members
| Member Name and Degree(s) | Affiliation |
|---|---|
| Chanel Porchia-Albert, CD, CPD, CLC, CHHC | Ancient Song Doula Services |
| Amber Weiseth, DNP, MSN, RN | Ariadne Labs |
| Leseliey Welch, MPH, MBA | Birth Detroit and Birth Center Equity |
| Stephanie Teleki, MPH, PhD | California Health Care Foundation |
| Kim Gregory, MD, MPH | Cedars-Sinai Medical Center |
| Angela Chien, MD | Foundation for Healthcare Quality |
| Rose Molina, MD | Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School |
| Kimberly Seals Allers | IRTH app |
| Cheryl Clark, MD, ScD | Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers’ Institute for Health Equity Research, Evaluation and Policy |
| Kristin Tully, PhD | University of North Carolina |
| Toni Stern, MD | Mount Sinai Health System |
| Whitney Graves, PhD, MPH | National Committee for Quality Assurance |
| Sepheen Byron, DrPH, MHS | National Quality Forum |
| Carol Sakala, PhD | National Partnership for Women and Families |
| Gianna Fay, CNM, WHNP-BC | Wayne County Birthing Center |
| Nicolle Gonzales, BSN, RN, MSN, CNM | Changing Woman Initiative |
| Jennie Joseph, CNM | Commonsense Childbirth |
| Leslie Kowalewski, BS | California Perinatal Outcomes Collaborative |
| Susan Perez, PhD | Sacramento State University |
| Debra Stulberg, MD, MAPP | University of Chicago |
| Lisa Leffert, MD | Yale Department of Anesthesiology |
| Federal Agencies | |
| Lee Warner, PhD, MPH | Centers for Disease Control and Prevention |
| Elizabeth Goldstein, PhD | Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services |
| Tiffany Wiggins, MD, MPH, FACOG | Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services |
| Susannah Bernheim, MD, MHS | Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Innovation Center |
| CAHPS Survey Development Team | |
| Susan Edgman-Levitan, PA | John D. Stoeckle Center of Primary Care Innovation at Massachusetts General Hospital |
| Paul Cleary, PhD | Yale School of Public Health |
| Lee Hargraves, PhD | University of Massachusetts Boston Center for Survey Research |
| Carol Cosenza, MSW | University of Massachusetts Boston Center for Survey Research |
| Julie Brown | RAND |
| Marc Elliott, PhD | RAND |
| Stephanie Fry, CPXP | Westat |
Technical Assistance
For any questions or comments related to the development of the Maternal Health Survey, contact CAHPS1@westat.com with the subject line “Maternal Health Survey.”
