Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems
Mission
The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) program is a multiyear initiative of AHRQ to develop and promote the use of standardized surveys of consumers' experiences with health care.
Go to https://cahps.ahrq.gov/
Relevance
The various CAHPS surveys ask enrollees and patients to report on and rate their experiences with health care providers in specific settings. These surveys cover aspects of quality that are important to consumers and that consumers are best qualified to assess, such as the communication skills of providers and ease of access to health care services.
Products
The CAHPS program develops standardized patient surveys that enable users to compare results across providers and over time, instructions for implementing those surveys, and benchmarking data. The program also generates tools and resources for survey sponsors to help them produce understandable and usable comparative information and for health care providers to help them assess and improve their own performance.
Audience
The program addresses a range of health care services and meets the information needs of health care consumers, purchasers, health plans, providers, and policymakers.
Settings of Care
CAHPS patient experience surveys cover ambulatory care in clinician offices and institutional care received in hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis centers, surgical care, dental plans, home health care, behavioral, health plans and clinics for American Indians.
Participating Agencies and Institutions
The CAHPS Consortium consists of Federal agencies, private research organizations, and a contractor that supports the CAHPS User Network.
