Quick links:
Current News | HCAHPS and IPPS Payment
Provisions | Background | Participation
| About the Survey | For More Information
| To Provide Comments or Questions| Internet
Citation
Current News
HCAHPS and IPPS Payment Provisions (revised 10/17/2008)
On August 1, 2008, the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) issued a
final rule to update the hospital inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) for
fiscal year (FY) 2009. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has
issued final rule CMS-1390-F, "Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment
Systems and Fiscal Year 2009 Rates." It was published in the August 19, 2008,
Federal
Register.
The final rule can be viewed and downloaded from
IPPS Regulations and Notices section of the CMS website. Details regarding
the RHQDAPU program begin on page 165 of the PDF downloadable file.
(
return to top)
Background
The intent of the HCAHPS initiative is to provide a standardized survey instrument
and data collection methodology for measuring patients' perspectives on hospital
care. While many hospitals currently collect information on patients' satisfaction
with care, there is no national standard for collecting or publicly reporting this
information that would enable valid comparisons to be made across all hospitals.
In order to make "apples to apples" comparisons to support consumer choice, it is
necessary to introduce a standard measurement approach. HCAHPS can be viewed as
a core set of questions that can be combined with a broader, customized set of hospital-specific
items. HCAHPS is meant to complement the data hospitals currently collect to support
improvements in internal customer services and quality related activities.
Three broad goals have shaped the HCAHPS survey. First, the survey is designed to
produce comparable data on the patient's perspective on care that allows objective
and meaningful comparisons between hospitals on domains that are important to consumers.
Second, public reporting of the survey results is designed to create incentives
for hospitals to improve their quality of care. Third, public reporting will serve
to enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of
the quality of hospital care provided in return for the public investment. With
these goals in mind, the HCAHPS project has taken substantial steps to assure that
the survey will be credible, useful, and practical. This methodology and the information
it generates will be made available to the public.
In May 2005, the National Quality Forum (NQF), an organization established to standardize
health care quality measurement and reporting, formally endorsed the CAHPS Hospital
Survey. The NQF endorsement represents the consensus of many health care providers,
consumer groups, professional associations, purchasers, federal agencies, and research
and quality organizations.
(
return to top)
Participation (revised 6/13/2008)
To participate in HCAHPS Data Collection and Public Reporting, all hospitals self-administering
the survey, hospitals administering the survey for multiple sites, and survey vendors
must meet certain Program Requirements and must be in accordance with the requirements
in the
HCAHPS Quality Assurance Guidelines, V. 3.0. In addition, hospitals/survey
vendors must submit a Participation Form to the HCAHPS Project Team for approval
prior to the administration of the HCAHPS survey.
Please note: At a minimum, the hospital's/survey vendor's Project Manager is required
to participate in the HCAHPS Training. Hospitals that have contracted with a survey
vendor to collect HCAHPS survey data are not required to attend training. CMS strongly
recommends that hospitals newly joining HCAHPS participate in a dry run, if feasible,
prior to beginning to collect HCAHPS data on an ongoing basis to meet the Reporting
Hospital Quality Data Annual Payment Update program (RHQDAPU) requirements. Please
see the www.hcahpsonline.org website for
a schedule of upcoming dry runs.
(
return to top)
About the Survey
The CAHPS Hospital Survey can be seen as a core set of questions that may be combined
with a broader, customized set of hospital-specific items. The survey is meant to
complement to the extent possible, not replace, the data hospitals currently collect
to support improvements in internal customer services and quality related activities.
The CAHPS Hospital Survey is composed of 18 patient rating and patient perspectives
on care items that encompass seven key topics: communication with doctors, communication
with nurses, responsiveness of hospital staff, cleanliness and quietness of hospital
environment, pain management, communication about medicines, and discharge information.
It also includes four screener questions and five demographic items, some of which
may be used for adjusting the mix of patients across hospitals and for analytical
purposes. The survey is 27 questions in length.
There are four approved modes of administration for the CAHPS Hospital Survey: 1)
Mail Only; 2) Telephone Only; 3) Mixed (mail followed by telephone); and 4) Active
Interactive Voice Response (IVR).
(
return to top)
For More Information
To learn more about the HCAHPS survey, please visit the following websites:
For general information:
(
return to top)
To Provide Comments or Ask Questions
(
return to top)
Internet Citation
Please use the following citation when referencing material on this website.
hcahpsonline.org. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Baltimore, MD.
Month,
Date, Year the page was accessed.
http://www.hcahpsonline.org
(
return to top)