CAHPS Insider: June 2025

July 2025 Overall Star Rating Hospital-Specific Reports

On May 15, 2025, CMS released the July 2025 Overall Hospital Quality Star Rating Hospital-Specific Reports (HSRs) in the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) system. These ratings are based on measure data from the October 2024 refresh.

Hospitals have until June 13, 2025, to preview their Star Ratings before public reporting. This preview period is informational only and is not a Review and Corrections period.

The HSRs are now available in enhanced PDF and CSV formats, replacing the previous Excel version. Both formats include comprehensive hospital performance details across all measure groups. CSV files provide unrounded values, and PDF files show rounded values and display results in a more accessible layout.

Hospitals can download their reports, along with the updated HSR User Guide, directly from the HQR system.

Public Reporting Refresh

Publicly reported CAHPS Hospice results on Care Compare have been updated to reflect results from Q3 2022 – Q2 2024 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2024) decedents. Star Ratings calculated based on data from Q2 2022 – Q1 2024 (April 1, 2022 – March 31, 2024) are also available.

Preview Reports

Hospices can review their results that will be published on Care Compare in advance of the August 2025 refresh. Preview Reports reflecting CAHPS Hospice results from Q4 2022 – Q3 2024 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2024) are available for review through the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application until June 20, 2025. The reports will be available to download for an additional 30 days after the preview period ends.

Please click here for additional information on CAHPS Hospice Preview Reports.

CAHPS Hospice Updates

The CAHPS Hospice Project Team has posted information for the current refresh, including:

→ The CAHPS Hospice Survey response rate for the Quarter 4 2022 – Quarter 3 2024 public reporting period
→ Case-Mix Adjustment Methods for CAHPS Hospice Survey Measures
‒ Click here for a document that describes how to approximate the impact on results
→ Average CAHPS Hospice Survey measure scores for each state for the Quarter 4 2022 – Quarter 3 2024 public reporting period
→ National percentiles of hospice performance on CAHPS Hospice Survey measures for the Quarter 4 2022 –
Quarter 3 2024 public reporting period
→ The Technical Notes for Star Ratings and the national and state distributions of Family Caregiver Survey Ratings Summary Stars for the August and November 2025 Reporting Periods (Quarter 4 2022 – Quarter 3 2024)

Vendor Authorization

REACH ACOs must authorize a survey vendor each year to administer the ACO REACH CAHPS Survey. The vendor authorization window for Performance Year (PY) 2025 is now open. Registered Survey Administrators should log in to the ACO REACH website to complete the authorization process by the July 28, 2025 deadline.

Click here to start your authorization, or here for step-by-step instructions.

If you do not yet have a registered Survey Administrator, registration instructions are available here.

PY 2026 ACO REACH Model Changes

CMS has announced several key updates to the ACO REACH Model for Performance Year (PY) 2026. The updates focus on strengthening financial accountability, enhancing incentives for quality performance, and advancing equity in care delivery. Highlights include increasing the Quality Withhold to boost rewards for high-performing ACOs, adjusting risk corridors and benchmarks to promote earlier and more equitable savings distribution, refining risk adjustment methodologies for accuracy, and implementing targeted changes for High Needs ACOs to better support vulnerable populations. For a full description of changes, please click here.

PY 2024 Reports

Primary Care First PECS Performance Year (PY) 2024 reports are expected to be released this month. To help practices prepare, the PCF PEC Survey team has developed a set of resources to support understanding and use of the PEC Survey Summary Score and Supplemental Reports.

Available resources include:
→ An updated set of PEC Survey FAQs
→ The Understanding and Using Your PEC Survey Results webinar
→ The PCF PEC Survey Reports and Scoring Fact Sheet

These tools are designed to guide practices in interpreting their PEC Survey reports and using the results to drive improvements in patient care.

PY 2026 ACO REACH Model Changes

CMS has announced several key updates to the ACO REACH Model for Performance Year (PY) 2026. The updates focus on strengthening financial accountability, enhancing incentives for quality performance, and advancing equity in care delivery. Highlights include increasing the Quality Withhold to boost rewards for high-performing ACOs, adjusting risk corridors and benchmarks to promote earlier and more equitable savings distribution, refining risk adjustment methodologies for accuracy, and implementing targeted changes for High Needs ACOs to better support vulnerable populations. For a full description of changes, please click here.

On June 4th, NRC Health hosted another installment of CAHPS Insider Live, a webcast designed to help healthcare leaders navigate the latest in compliance and patient experience.

In this installment, we covered:
→ Key compliance updates and recent training topics
→ Upcoming CAHPS hospice changes
→ Trends in HCAHPS and OAS CAHPS response rates

Click here to watch the recording today!