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HCAHPS: The Patient’s Perspective on Hospital Care

The first national, standardized survey of patients' perspectives of hospital care, the CAHPS® Hospital Survey (better known as HCAHPS), has now been in the field for over a year, and results for the ~2,700 participating hospitals will be publicly reported for the first time in March 2008.

HCAHPS has already caught the attention of many healthcare organizations and hospital administrators, and it is quite possible that, armed with survey results for one or more hospitals, patients soon will be soliciting your advice.

The survey, which asks a random sample of discharged, adult patients across medical conditions about their experience of care (including communication with doctors) and rating of hospital, was developed by researchers at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), who also oversees survey administration and public reporting.

Participating hospitals (and by 2009 nearly all acute care hospitals will participate or risk losing significant government payments) must adhere to standardized survey administration protocols and submit to government review. Hospital-level scores will be publicly reported on the Hospital Compare Web site (www.hospitalcompare.hhs.govexternal), alongside the current clinical and mortality measures. Results will be adjusted for survey mode (mail, telephone, etc.) and patient characteristics (self-reported health status, age, ER admission, etc.) to eliminate sources of potential bias.

If you are curious, the 27 items on the HCAHPS survey can be viewed at http://www.hcahpsonline.org/surveyinstrument.aspxexternal. The official HCAHPS Web site, www.hcahpsonline.orgexternal, also houses a wealth of information about survey content, development, and administration.

Posted: 12/07/2007
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