Communications For Research, Inc.

What is CAHPS?

The CAHPS acronym stands for Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems and is a family of surveys that includes tools for different types of care (e.g., HCAHPS or Hospital CAHPS, NH CAHPS or Nursing Home CAHPS CG-CAHPS or Clinician and Group CAHPS). The tool was originally developed by AHRQ (Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality) and is used by health plans to understand their members’ perception of the quality of their health care.

What is HHCAHPS?

HHCAHPS refers to Home Health Care CAHPS, a tool (survey) to assess patient’s perceptions of care provided by Medicare certified home health care agencies.

How much will it cost us to do HHCAHPS?

At CFR, we charge an annual fee of $300 plus a fee of $12 per completed survey. This is different from a mail survey cost, where cost is based directly on how many patients/mailings have to go out. Our costs are based on how many patients respond to the survey, therefore the cost is relevant to how much data we collect for you.
Cost example 1: If we reach 300 completed surveys, then the yearly cost would come to $3900.
Cost example 2: If after we contact every eligible patient, over a 12-month period, we reach 125 completed surveys (due to low number of patient discharges), then the yearly cost would come to $1800.

Does my agency have to participate?

All Medicare-certified home health agencies (HHAs) with over 60 HHCAHPS eligible patients annually have to participate in order to get their full annual market basket increase. Agencies with fewer than 60 eligible, unduplicated patients between April 1, 2010 and March 31, 2011 must submit their patient counts to the HH-CAHPS Data Center to receive a waiver from participation. The form required will be posted to the www.homehealthcahps.org on April 1, 2011.

Which patients will be eligible for the survey?

Patients considered eligible for participation include:

• Medicare or Medicaid patients
• Patients at least 18 years of age at any time of their stay and believed to be alive
• Patients that have received at least two visits in the past 60 days and had at least one skilled care visit during the sample month
• Patients not currently receiving only hospice care
• Patients not currently receiving only routine maternity care
• Patients who have not requested "no publicity" status

What is the Dry Run?

The Dry Run is a test REQUIRED of all agencies that participate in the HHCAHPS national implementation. It will allow an agency to work with a vendor to collect and submit data. Agencies must participate in at least one month of the Dry Run.

Will the Dry Run data be publically reported?

No, Dry Run data will not be publically reported. The data will be submitted to CMS for quality checks and to ensure that all processes are running smoothly.

When will the data be made public?

Approved survey vendors will conduct the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey on an ongoing basis and submit data on a quarterly basis. Home Health Care CAHPS Survey results will be publicly reported on www.medicare.gov website. The first public reporting will start in the Spring of 2011.

Will there be peer groups or adjustments for hospital characteristics (e.g., size)?

Reports will provide a national and state norm. There will not be peer group comparisons on the medicare.gov website. But we do offer an Online system that would provide this.

Can HHAs conduct the survey?

No, CMS has stated that HHAs must use an approved vendor to conduct this survey.

Who do I contact for more information?

You may go to the Home Health Care CAHPS website at https://homehealthcahps.org/ or send an email to CFR.