What does hcahps measures

Comparative information for the Adult Hospital Survey is available at the national level as well as for some States and communities. AHRQ carried out a rigorous scientific process, including a public call for measures; a literature review; cognitive interviews; consumer focus groups, stakeholder input, a three-state pilot test, extensive psychometric analyses, consumer testing, and numerous small-scale field tests.

The survey, its methodology, and the results it produces are in the public domain. Accessed November 5, Content last reviewed December Browse Topics. Topics A-Z. The last goal of the survey is to increase public accountability of hospitals. The main goals of the HCAHPS Survey were established to guide the creation of the final product and helped significantly in its shaping. Those responsible for the creation of the HCAHPS Survey have worked diligently to ensure that the survey is useful and practical, producing data that can be used by a broad range of interests to better serve the public and all those receiving medical care throughout the United States.

In , the information from the surveys was first publicly reported. CMS reports the results of the survey for each hospital on the Hospital Compare website. The results published online are based on the past four consecutive quarters, with the oldest quarter being discarded when a new quarter arrives.

There are some factors that are beyond the control of hospitals that can impact the results of the survey. These options include:. Most patients who stay at a hospital are eligible to take the survey, although there are some exceptions.

The specific requirements for participation include:. While the HCAHPS Project Team designed the survey to gather information from as wide a spectrum of patients as possible, but there are limitations to the survey that must be accounted for — which is why some patients are ineligible to participate. For instance, the survey was not designed for pediatric patients or patients who have been diagnosed with behavioral health issues.

Patients who only came into the hospital for a short period of time — those that did not stay overnight — are also excluded because they have not had enough interaction with the hospital staff to be considered in the overall survey. To meet the needs of the survey requires not only that the patient has stayed at the hospital and received care, it also requires that the patient be accessible after discharge to take the survey.

Some other patients are ineligible to participate in the survey because collecting information from them would prove too difficult to be practical.

These ineligible patients include:. The patient to be sampled must participate in the survey within 48 hours to six weeks following discharge. The mode of the survey, whether by mail, telephone or another option, must be completed within the hour to six week time period. If the survey is mailed out, the data must be collected within the six week time period to be admissible. When the first HCAHPS Surveys were completed and the results were in, many hospitals were faced with an unpleasant shock — they did not score well, much worse than they expected to.

Fortunately, by learning ways to deliver a better experience to patients, many of these hospitals were able to improve their scores over time.

Once hospital staff understands that a positive patient experience requires more than just maintaining the standard of care — that patients want and need to be cared for as a person — then it becomes easier to design a system of care that accounts for HCAHPS Survey questions. It is surprising for many hospitals to discover that patients generally expected the quality of the medical care provided by the hospital to be good. What patients were less certain of was whether their doctor, nurse or another medical provider would listen to them and genuinely care about how they felt.

Browse Topics. Topics A-Z. Quality and Disparities Report Latest available findings on quality of and access to health care. Notice of Funding Opportunities. Page last reviewed November