The HCAHPS Survey - Frequently Asked Questions Page 1
The HCAHPS Survey – Frequently Asked Questions
What is the purpose of the HCAHPS Survey?
The HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Survey, also
known as the CAHPS® Hospital Survey or Hospital CAHPS®, is a standardized survey instrument and
data collection methodology that has been in use since 2006 to measure patients' perspectives of hospital
care. While many hospitals collect information on patient satisfaction, HCAHPS (pronounced “H-caps”)
created a national standard for collecting and public reporting information that enables valid comparisons
to be made across all hospitals to support consumer choice. The HCAHPS sampling protocol is designed
to capture uniform information on hospital care from the patient’s perspective.
Three broad goals shape the HCAHPS Survey. First, the survey is designed to produce comparable data
on patients' perspectives of care that allows objective and meaningful comparisons among hospitals on
topics that are important to consumers. Second, public reporting of the survey results is designed to create
incentives for hospitals to improve quality of care. Third, public reporting serves to enhance public
accountability in health care by increasing transparency. With these goals in mind, the HCAHPS project
has taken substantial steps to assure that the survey is credible, useful, and practical. This methodology
and the information it generates are available to the public. More information about the HCAHPS Survey
can be found at http://www.hcahpsonline.org/home.aspx.
Note: CAHPS® (Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) is a registered trademark
of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, a U.S. Government agency.
What items are on the HCAHPS Survey?
The HCAHPS Survey is composed of 27 items: 18 substantive items that encompass critical aspects of
the hospital experience (communication with doctors, communication with nurses, responsiveness of
hospital staff, cleanliness of the hospital environment, quietness of the hospital environment, pain
management, communication about medicines, discharge information, overall rating of hospital, and
recommendation of hospital); four items to skip patients to appropriate questions; three items to adjust for
the mix of patients across hospitals; and two items to support congressionally-mandated reports. The
HCAHPS Survey is available in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese in the mail format,
and in English and Spanish in the telephone and Interactive Voice Response formats. On average, it takes
respondents about seven minutes to complete the HCAHPS survey items. The core set of HCAHPS
questions can be combined with customized, hospital-specific items to complement the data hospitals
collect to support internal customer service and quality-related activities.
The actual wording of the HCAHPS questions and response categories, as well as the scripts for
conducting the survey in the Telephone and Active Interactive Voice Response (IVR) modes, can be
found under “Survey Instruments” on the HCAHPS On-line website,
http://www.hcahpsonline.org/home.aspx. Complete information about how to implement the HCAHPS
survey can
be found in the HCAHPS
Quality Assurance Guidelines, also available on this Web site.