CAHPS^®: Evaluating Efforts to Measure and Report on Health Care Quality

CAHP^® (formerly the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans) is a comprehensive and evolving family of survey instruments designed to capture the experiences of consumers and patients with a range of health care products and services. By providing consumers with standardized data and presenting it in a way that is easy to understand and use, CAHPS is intended to help people make decisions that support better health care and better health.

Mathematica is assisting the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and its collaborators in CAHPS to evaluate what they have accomplished and identify areas of strength and weakness, as well as future priorities and ways to acheive them. Our results will guide the direction CAHPS may take and support the development of consensus about what lessons can be learned (as well as what the research means for consumer choice, patient-reported quality measures, and other quality-reporting efforts). Early in the development of CAHPS, its original focus on "general" consumer assessment of health plan performance was expanded to include assessments by particular subgroups with unique information needs or preferences. It also expanded into the assessment of providers and care settings. As the demand for products grows and diversifies, it is now appropriate to assess lessons from CAHPS and to develop a strategic plan for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) that organizes and directs efforts to move ahead. This project moves from understanding the rationale for CAHPS and the environment that affects its success, to evaluating the scope and reach of CAHPS and the extent of its success or weaknesses in specific areas, to identifying priorities for the future, and, ultimately, to making recommendations on appropriate models for structuring a public-private partnership to finance and work toward achieving these priorities.

The study involves an iterative process that includes a review of literature and of CAHPS data to document the program's history and operations; interviews with health care quality experts and CAHPS users and potential users about the successes and limitations of CAHPS, its future priorities, and AHRQ's future role in CAHPS; a Delphi-like process, in which AHRQ and CAHPS contractors complete questionnaires and participate in a group meeting to prioritize CAHPS current and future directions; and a second round of interviews with quality experts/stakeholders to obtain their perspectives about current and future priorities for CAHPS. This phase of the study will conclude in November 2005 with a synthesis of all findings to date. During the final phase of the study in early 2006, MPR will identify and recommend models for drawing on public and private sector organizations and resources to support future CAHPS work.

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