Each year Federal Employees Health Benefits plans with 500 or more subscribers mail the Consumers Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS)1 to a random sample of plan members. For Health Maintenance Organizations (HMO)/Point-of-Service (POS) and High Deductible Health Plans (HDHP) and Consumer-Driven Health Plans (CDHP), the sample includes all commercial plan members, including non-Federal members. For Fee-for-Service (FFS)/Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plans, the sample includes Federal members only. The CAHPS survey asks questions to evaluate members' satisfaction with their health plans. Independent vendors certified by the National Committee for Quality Assurance administer the surveys. OPM reports each plan's scores on the various survey measures by showing the percentage of satisfied members on a scale of 0 to 100. Also, we list the national average for each measure. Since we offer HMO plans, FFS/PPO plans, HDHP, and CDHP plans, we compute a separate national average for each plan type. Survey findings and member ratings are provided for the following key measures of member satisfaction:
In evaluating plan scores, you can compare individual plan scores against other plans and against the national averages. Generally, new plans and those with fewer than 500 FEHB subscribers do not conduct CAHPS. Therefore, some of the plans listed in the Guide will not have survey data.
1 CAHPS is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).