Use of CAHPS® Reports
The CAHPS® Survey Process
The CAHPS® Questionnaires
The CAHPS® Reports
Analysis of CAHPS® Data
For More Detailed Information
1. How can I maximize the use of the CAHPS® report by consumers?
2. How can I maximize the use of the report if I can distribute the CAHPS® report booklet, but not the advance notice and reminder information designed to increase consumer awareness of the CAHPS® report?
3. Why is it important to distribute the CAHPS® report to consumers individually?
4. How will plans respond to the CAHPS® reports?
5. How should group sponsors make use of the CAHPS® survey information to encourage health plans to make quality improvements?
6. We would like to get press attention for these survey results. What kinds of approaches seem to raise attention in the media? How do we get the media to responsibly report the results?
7. Who else is using CAHPS® and can I compare my results to those of other sponsors?
1. If my members are not asking for plan comparisons, why should I conduct CAHPS®?
2. Our State's Medicaid program wants to use CAHPS® to help recipients choose among the managed care options available to them. We also have a need for population-based survey data to help monitor the program's operation and identify access problems. Can CAHPS® serve both goals?
3. Between the time we drew the sample frames for our project and the deadline for delivering reports, we had a number of changes in the options available to our enrollees. Plans merged, we dropped plan options, and we offered new plan options. How should we handle these situations?
4. What does it cost to conduct a CAHPS® survey and disseminate the reports to consumers?
5. Where can I find information and resources to help me work with health plans as I conduct a CAHPS® survey and prepare the reports?
6. How can I ensure that I hire a reputable vendor?
7. What can I do to ensure the best possible outcome for the survey once I have selected a vendor?
8. What potential problems may survey vendors encounter when conducting CAHPS®?
1. Have the CAHPS® questionnaires been tested and evaluated?
2. Is it fair to hold plans accountable for the experiences that members have with their providers?
3. The data resulting from a CAHPS® questionnaire do not provide information on the exact cause of a problem. Therefore, how can providers and plans use the questionnaire results to improve their performance?
4. Why does CAHPS® use a 0-10 rating scale and not an adjectival rating scale?
5. Why does CAHPS® repeat the reference period in every question?
6. Why does CAHPS® ask respondents to continue answering questions even if they think they do not belong to the sampled health plan?
7. Why does CAHPS® order response options or questions in such a way that the negative wording comes first?
8. Why does CAHPS® include only one health status measure in its questionnaires?
9. How did CAHPS® determine the method for collecting data about urgent or immediate care?
10. Why doesn't CAHPS® keep track of out-of-network care?
11. Why doesn't CAHPS® collect information on technical quality?
12. Does the CAHPS® questionnaire include measures of unmet needs?
13. Why are there no items on 24-hour access to medical care?
14. Why are race and ethnicity separate items in CAHPS® 2.0?
15. Why is "Nurse" included in the definition of primary care provider?
16. Why does CAHPS® use the term "health plan"?
17. For what reading level is CAHPS® designed?
18. Will the length of this questionnaire and the frequent shifts in response format cause too heavy a burden on respondents?
19. How important is information about trends? Does the new CAHPS® 2.0 questionnaire permit a transition from MSS and CAHPS® 1.0?
20. Why have you changed the recall and eligibility period to 12 months for commercially insured enrollees while maintaining a 6-month period for Medicaid and Medicare?
21. Is NCQA setting an industry standard by specifying a waiting time more than 15 minutes as too long?
22. Is it really possible to achieve the response rate you anticipate with the survey protocol CAHPS® is recommending?
23. Is a 50 percent response rate achievable for Medicaid?
24. Why are the CAHPS® materials available in only one foreign language—Spanish?
25. If a sponsor needs to field CAHPS® in a language other than English or Spanish, are there any recommendations or guidelines for translation?
1. Where did the topics discussed in the CAHPS® report originate?
2. Why does CAHPS® use composites to summarize items in the CAHPS® survey?
3. Can we incorporate responses to our own questions into existing reporting composites?
4. Why does the CAHPS® report use the star symbol in the summary comparison charts?
5. Why does CAHPS® use its particular type of bar graphs (100 percent bar graphs) to show the answers people gave to the survey questions?
6. What is the purpose of including both the star charts and the bar charts in the print report? Why not use one or the other?
7. In the print report, the bar graphs require the use of white and either two colors or shades of one other color. What are the important things to keep in mind if the report is in black and white and/or needs to be photocopied?
8. How and why does CAHPS® combine the response categories for the "never/sometimes/usually/always" composites?
9. Why doesn't the report compare plans on cost and coverage?
10. Why doesn't the CAHPS® report include comparisons among plans on clinical measures, such as the percentage of patients with a particular disease who got better?
11. If a plan scores well on the topics listed in the CAHPS® report, does that mean it will also score well on other measures of quality?
12.What do I do if I want to include HEDIS measures in my report?
13. Why is the CAHPS® report as long as it is? Why do all these sections need to be included?
14. How do I prepare the report if my organization offers more plans than will "fit" on the formatted pages in the paper or computer templates?
15. An earlier version of the report included ratings on specialists and personal doctor/nurse. Why were these dropped?
16. When I show the survey results, what background should I include about differences in HMOs, PPOs, and other types of plans?
1. What is the rationale behind the groupings in the reporting composites? Have these composites been tested for reliability and validity?
2. Why does CAHPS® use case-mix adjusters?
3. What is an appropriate level of substantive significance?
4. How will composites be computed for CAHPS® 2.0?
5. What is the rationale for splitting the 0-10 scale into three groups: 10, 9-8, and 7-0?
Select for the online version of the Technical Overview of CAHPS®. A print copy of the Technical Overview (AHCPR Pub. No. 97-R013) is available through the AHCPR Clearinghouse: 800-358-9295.
The CAHPS® 2.0 Questionnaires are available online. If you wish to use the CAHPS® 2.0 Questionnaires or other products, you are strongly urged to contact the Survey User Network (at: 800-492-9261), register as a CAHPS user, and inquire about technical assistance.
You may also contact:
Christine Crofton, Ph.D.
(301) 427-1323
Charles Darby, M.A.
(301) 427-1324
Center for Quality Measurement and Improvement
Agency for Health Care Policy and Research
Current as of September 1999
Internet Citation:
Frequently Asked Questions: Consumer Assessment of Health Plans (CAHPS®). September 1999. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD. http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/cahps/faqtoc.htm
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