CAHPS Insider: August 2026

HCAHPS

IPPS Final Rule

The FY 2027 Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment Systems (IPPS) for Acute Care Hospitals Final Rule is available for review on the Federal Register.

No significant changes were made to the HCAHPS Survey or its role in IPPS Quality Reporting.

CMS reiterated previously finalized scoring updates that will apply to Hospital Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) Program years FY 2027 through FY 2029. During this transition period, hospitals will be scored only on the six HCAHPS dimensions that remain unchanged until updated survey measures are publicly reported for one year.

The Fact Sheet can be found here.

HHCAHPS

Public Reporting Refresh

Home Health Care CAHPS Survey results have been refreshed on Care Compare. The updated results reflect responses from patients who received care from Medicare-certified home health agencies from Q1 2025 – Q4 2025 (January 2025 – December 2025).

HHCAHPS Survey results are updated each calendar year quarter.

These data are also available on the HHCAHPS website through the Archived Publicly Reported Data link under the General Information tab. Available resources include HHA-level data, state and national averages, Star Ratings cut points, and patient-mix adjustment coefficients used for the linearized data that construct Star Ratings.

Additional information is available through the HHCAHPS Technical Notes and patient–mix adjustment resources, which provide more detail on how the publicly reported results were analyzed and statistically adjusted.

OAS CAHPS

ASC Preview Reports

Preview Reports for the Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery CAHPS (OAS CAHPS) Survey are now available, reflecting results from Q4 2024 – Q3 2025 (October 2024 – September 2025). These reports can be accessed on the OAS CAHPS website for Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs).

Note Hospital Outpatient Department (HOPD) reports are hosted through the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) system. This is the last quarter that preview reports for ASCs will be posted on the OAS CAHPS website. Starting with Q1,2025 – Q4, 2025 data, ASC and HOPD preview reports will be posted in HQR.

ASCs are encouraged to review their Preview Reports ahead of public reporting.

CAHPS Hospice

Final Rule

CMS has published the FY 2027 Hospice Wage Index Final Rule. While the rule does not include any changes to the CAHPS Hospice Survey, it does finalize a new compliance indicator for Care Compare beginning no earlier than FY 2028.

The new icon will identify hospices that fail to meet Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) reporting requirements. Importantly, the indicator will be tied to HOPE submission compliance and will not reflect CAHPS Hospice Survey data submission compliance, recognizing that many hospices are exempt from CAHPS participation due to low patient volumes.

Hospices that receive an HQRP reporting exemption because of extraordinary circumstances also will not be identified by the icon. CMS notes that certain newly certified hospices may likewise be excluded, particularly those that receive their CCN late in the calendar year.

The Final Rule is available for review here.

ICH CAHPS

Revised 2026 Survey Composite Measures

Beginning with the 2026 Spring Survey administration, the ICH CAHPS Survey was revised to include fewer questions. These changes impact the composites and ratings publicly reported on Care Compare and the patient-mix variables used to calculate publicly reported scores.

The October 2026 Care Compare refresh will include results from the 2025 Spring and 2025 Fall Surveys, which both used the original survey. Beginning with the April 2027 refresh, publicly reported ICH CAHPS results will reflect the revised survey and updated reporting approach.

As part of these updates:

• The Nephrologists’ Communications and Caring composite measure and the Rating of Nephrologists global rating will no longer be reported.
• The Quality of Dialysis Center Care and Operations composite will include four fewer questions, for a total of 13.
• The Providing Information to Patients composite will remain, but the question numbers included in the composite will change.
• The Rating of Dialysis Center Staff and Rating of Dialysis Center global ratings will continue to be reported.

The set of patient-mix variables used to create publicly reported scores will also change. For the April 2027 Refresh, 2025 Fall Survey scores will be recalculated using the new set of patient-mix variables so they align with 2026 Spring Survey scores.

Proposed Rule

The ESRD Quality Incentive Program Proposed Rule has been released and is available on the Federal Register for review. At this time, there are no updates related to the ICH CAHPS Survey.

Public comments on the rule will be accepted through August 24, 2026 and can be submitted at the link above.

CAHPS for MIPS

Vendor Authorization

The survey vendor authorization window for the CAHPS for MIPS 2026 survey opened August 4. Your primary contact should have received an email from CMS with a link to access the online vendor authorization tool.

Vendor authorization is due September 9, 2026 and must be completed by all ACOs and participating MIPS clinician groups, regardless of past participation.

We encourage you to complete the process as soon as possible to be prepared for the upcoming fielding.

Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule

The Physician Fee Schedule and Medicare Shared Savings Program Requirements Proposed Rule has been released, including a proposal related to APP Plus quality measure reporting for Shared Savings Program ACOs.

For performance year 2027 and subsequent performance years, CMS is proposing that Shared Savings Program ACOs report on eight measures in the APP Plus quality measure set. This proposed set includes five eCQMs/MIPS CQMs/Medicare CQMs/Medicare eCQMs, the CAHPS for MIPS Survey, and two administrative claims-based measures calculated by CMS.

The Proposed Rule is available for review on the Federal Register. Public comments will be accepted through September 14, 2026.

PIX

IPF Final Rule

The FY 2027 Inpatient Psychiatric Facilities Prospective Payment System – Rate Update has been published and is available for review on the Federal Register.

No significant changes were made to the PIX Survey or its role in IPF Quality Reporting.

External Submission Deadlines

	Q3 2025 Discharges	Q4 2025 Discharges	Q1 2026 Discharges	Q2 2026 Discharges
HCAHPS	1/14/2026	4/8/2026	7/8/2026	10/9/2026
Premier	1/23/2026	4/17/2026	7/24/2026	10/30/2026
Vizient	1/23/2026	4/17/2026	7/17/2026	10/23/2026
HHCAHPS	1/15/2026	4/16/2026	7/16/2026	10/15/2026
CAHPS Hospice	2/11/2026	5/13/2026	8/12/2026	11/11/2026
OAS CAHPS	1/14/2026	4/8/2026	7/8/2026	10/9/2026
ICH CAHPS	1/28/2026 (Fall 2025)		7/29/2026 (Spring 2026)
ACO REACH		1/19/2027 (2026)
CAHPS for MIPS		1/15/2027 (2026)
				*Activity COMPLETE

If you have any questions regarding the information included in this edition of the CAHPS Insider, please contact NRC Health CAHPS Compliance at [email protected].