Public Reporting Refresh

Publicly reported HCAHPS results on Care Compare have been updated to reflect results from Q3 2022 – Q2 2023 (July 1, 2022 – June 30, 2023).

Preview Reports

Preview Reports including HCAHPS results from Q4 2022 – Q3 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023) and Star Ratings are available through the Hospital Quality Reporting (HQR) Portal. The preview period for hospitals to review their data closes June 4, 2024. These data will be publicly reported on Care Compare in July 2024.

Website Updates

Several updates are now included under What’s New on the HCAHPS website, including:

• HCAHPS Star Ratings Technical Notes
• Patient-mix adjustments and National Means for the July 2024 public reporting period
• A new “Updated CAHPS Survey” tab has been added to the HCAHPS website

Updated HCAHPS 2025

CMS hosted survey vendor training and expanded on proposed changes to take effect with January 1, 2025 discharges.

• Changes will be made to the survey. The removal of 5 questions and addition of 8 new questions will result in a total of 32 questions on the Updated HCAHPS Survey. A crosswalk of the current HCAHPS Survey to the proposed Updated HCAHPS Survey is available here.
• NRC Health will offer two new modes of survey administration (web-mail and web-phone) in addition to legacy administration modes of mail, phone, and mail-phone.
• Proxies will be allowed to complete the survey on the patient’s behalf.
• The data collection period will be extended from 42 to 49 days.
• All hospitals will be required to collect patients’ preferred language and offer the survey in English and Spanish.
• There will be a maximum of 12 supplemental questions.
• A “Planned Stay” patient-mix adjustment will be introduced.

The final rule is expected in August.

Public Reporting

OAS CAHPS results reflecting procedures between Q4 2022 – Q3 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023) are now available in the Provider Data Catalog (PDC). The PDC offers downloadable datasets of OAS CAHPS results at facility, state, and national levels.

If you have questions, please contact the OAS CAHPS Survey Coordination Team at oascahps@rti.org or 866-590-7468.

Public Reporting

The April 2024 update of Home Health Care CAHPS scores has been finalized. The results cover the period from Q4 2022 to Q3 2023 (October 1, 2022 – September 30, 2023) and are now accessible on Care Compare.

Proposed Revised Survey

CMS recently published the proposed revised CAHPS Hospice Survey. It contains changes to scored measures to take effect with January 2025 decedents including:

• Removing three nursing home items and an item about moving the family member that are not included in scored measures
• Removing one survey item regarding confusing or contradictory information from the Hospice Team Communication measure
• Replacing the multi-item Getting Hospice Care Training measure with a new, one-item summary measure
• Adding two new items, which will be used to calculate a new Care Preferences measure
• Simplifying wording to component items in the Hospice Team Communication, Getting Timely Care, and Treating Family Member with Respect measures

Additional updates have been made to non-scored questions. The proposed survey contains a total of 39 questions, a decrease from the current survey’s 47 questions. For a side-by-side comparison of the new survey, please click here.

Response Rates by Mode and Race/Ethnicity

Each quarter, CMS publishes response rates categorized by mode and race/ethnicity. Dialysis facilities are encouraged to consult this document when deciding on survey administration methods, ensuring they select the mode that accommodates the needs of their patient population. Response rates from the Spring and Fall 2023 fielding periods are available here.

Patient-Mix Coefficients and Star Ratings

ICH CAHPS results are adjusted for patient-mix. The coefficients are available here for dialysis facilities to approximate the impact of the adjustments on their publicly reported scores. The document also contains information about the methods used to create Star Ratings.

Average State and National Scores

CMS has posted state and national averages for ICH composite measures and global ratings for results that were publicly posted on Care Compare in April 2024. Please click here.

If you have any questions, please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team at ichcahps@rti.org or 866-245-8083.