Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers & Systems RIF

CMS administers several surveys to assess beneficiary experience with different types of health care. Some of these are CMS-only surveys. Others, those designated as CAHPS, have been approved by the AHRQ-overseen CAHPS consortium.

Healthcare providers/populations addressed by specific, individual surveys include:

  • Hospital
  • Home Health
  • Home and Community Based Services
  • Fee-for-Service
  • Medicare Advantage & Part D Plan (PDP)
  • In-Center Hemodialysis
  • Nationwide Adult Medicaid
  • Hospice
  • Accountable Care Organizations
  • Outpatient and Ambulatory Surgery
  • Merit-based Incentive Payment System quality payment program

Measures of beneficiary experience focus on the patient experience or perception rather than patient satisfaction. Focus areas include:

  • Communication with providers
  • Understanding medication instructions
  • Coordination of healthcare needs

The number of participating patients and institutions varies by survey. For example, over 4,000 hospitals participates in HCAHPS, and over 7,000 home health agencies participate in HHCAHPS.

Special considerations:

Availability of this file

Availability:

Varies

 There are currently two surveys available in physical format and in the VRDC.

  • Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan Survey data
    •   Available 2015-2022*
  • Fee for Service Survey data
    • Available 2015-2022*

*There was no CAHPS survey administration in 2020 for MA, PDP, or FFS due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

For full data file availability, please see the CMS web site.

See what is in this file