Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS®) makes available consumers' ratings of the quality of care and services they get from their health plans. This information is used by other consumers to make informed choices among health plans, by health care purchasers—such as employers or Medicaid programs—to select plans to offer their employees or beneficiaries, and by plans for quality monitoring and improvement.
Select for more CAHPS® information: CAHPS® Fact Sheet, CAHPS® 2.0 Questionnaires (Download), Frequently Asked Questions, Technical Overview.
CAHPS® already has been used by more than 20 States, 10 employer groups, a wide range of health plans, and companies.
Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care. Arkansas is one of the few States that self-administers its Medicaid program and does not contract with commercial health maintenance organizations (HMOs) for its coverage. In 1998 it surveyed 1,500 adults and 1,500 children enrolled in ConnectCare. The detailed reports were used internally, and selected findings were sent to legislators, providers, recipients, and other interested parties. The next Medicaid project includes 1,500 parents of Arkansas' Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP), called ARKids First. Both surveys will be conducted each year.
Michigan Department of Community Health. Michigan implemented a two-part project that will provide a comparison of Comprehensive Health Plans (CHPs) with the Provider Sponsor Program (PSP). The Department of Community Health surveyed beneficiaries in one half of each type of program and planned to report the results to the State legislature, HCFA, and the beneficiaries during first quarter 1999. Also during first quarter of 1999, the remainder of the CHP and PSP were surveyed, as well as children enrolled in the Children's Special Health Care Services Managed Care program. The data from the first group will be compared with data from the second. Later in 1999, the State of Michigan will conduct a survey that will provide a plan-to-plan-level comparison of all participating CHPs.
New Mexico Health Policy Commission. In 1998, the Commission used CAHPS® to sample members of commercial managed care plans that included a number of subpopulations of clinically ill members. The results of the survey will be included in the 1999 version of New Mexico's Consumer Guide to Selecting a Managed Care Plan.
Utah Department of Health. The Utah Department of Health surveyed enrollees of Medicaid HMOs in Utah's four urban counties. The survey population was limited to those with special health care needs, with chronic conditions, or those otherwise disabled. Reports were distributed to the Department of Health, the health plans, and to public interest groups. The Department of Health plans to resurvey this population every other year, beginning in 1999.
Ford Motor Company. In 1997, Ford surveyed hourly and salaried employees in 13 Southeast Michigan plans and hourly employees in 3 Kansas City plans. The results were used to create a consumer report for employees and an executive summary for senior management. Ford plans to resurvey employees in 1999.
Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) of Massachusetts. BCBS surveyed members of Blue Care 65, the Medicare enrollees. Reports were made available upon request. BCBS has been coordinating with the New England Coalition to survey its commercial HMO and possibly PPO populations. BCBS plans to survey the commercial managed care enrollees and disenrollees annually.
Keystone Mercy Health Plan (Philadelphia). Keystone Mercy surveyed its Medicaid members and used the results internally to monitor plan quality. The Plan plans to conduct the CAHPS® survey annually.
United Health Care (UHC) Corporation. In 1997 and 1998, UHC surveyed Medicaid plans and Medicare plans not being surveyed by HCFA. The data were used by the health plans to report their performance to State and Federal regulators.
Central Florida Health Care Coalition. The Coalition surveyed the 4,800 privately insured adults enrolled in 5 preferred provider organizations (PPOs) and 3 HMOs, using a SPRINT phone card with free phone time as an incentive. The findings went to the employers and plan, not the enrollees. The Coalition plans to conduct this survey annually.
Delaware Health Care Commission. The Commission surveyed all health care populations throughout the State—fee-for-service and managed care enrollees, as well as a portion of uninsured adults. The Commission is working on classifying health plans on a continuum rather than strictly comparing fee-for-service with managed care plans.
Oklahoma Health Care Authority. In 1997 and 1998, Oklahoma sponsored both a survey of Medicaid recipients and a second survey of commercially insured State employees. They created consumer reports and distributed them to enrollees and recipients. They will be repeating the study in 1999.
Vermont Employers Health Alliance. The Alliance used CAHPS® to survey enrollees of plans offered by 11 employers and the State. The employers used the results for internal monitoring, to negotiate a coalition with health plans, and as a pilot to determine whether to use CAHPS® annually.
AHCPR, now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), sponsored six sites around the country at which CAHPS® surveys were administered and reports of survey results were provided to consumers. The CAHPS® team is in the process of evaluating the impact of these reports on the consumers. Descriptions of several of the sites follow.
Iowa CAHPS® Projects. This 1998 study was a community-wide effort in which three different Iowa groups came together to coordinate their data collection efforts. They were State of Iowa Department of Personnel (State employees); State of Iowa Department of Human Services (Medicaid population); and the Community Health Purchasing Corporations Iowa Care Plan (privately insured members). The results were distributed to all the enrollees during open season in fall 1998.
New Jersey State Department of Health and Senior Services and New Jersey Medicaid. As a CAHPS® demonstration site, the New Jersey Medicaid program made computerized and print reports available to Medicaid recipients. In addition, the New Jersey State Department of Health independently surveyed both the enrollees of all HMOs and the Medicaid populations in the State through two organizations. Consumer reports were made available to New Jersey residents.
Oregon Health Care Purchasers' Coalition. The Coalition, along with the office of Medical Assistance programs, surveyed both commercial and Medicaid enrollees. The information was used to create a community-wide comparative health plan performance report. The reports were sent to purchasers, health plans, and policymakers to provide a basis for ongoing discussions about assessing the quality of managed health care. The reports were also distributed with other materials to enrollees during fall open enrollment. The Coalition will conduct the survey again in 2000.
Washington State Health Care Authority. The Health Care Authority surveyed both commercial and Medicaid enrollees. In their commercial effort, the Authority first surveyed employees in 17 private health plans and mailed the results to active enrollees, separate from any open enrollment materials. The Authority later surveyed all active and retired employees in 15 plans and the State's self-insured Uniform Medical Plan. The Medicaid project, conducted by the Department of Medical Assistance, surveyed Medicaid managed care enrollees in 15 plans.
Current as of January 2000
AHRQ Publication No. 00-PO23
Replaces AHCPR Publication No. 99-PO26
Internet Citation:
CAHPS® User Stories. AHRQ Publication No. 00-PO23. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/cahps/cahpuser.htm
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