CAHPS Health Plan Survey (Commercial and Medicaid)

T he Consumer Assessment of Health Care Provider and Systems (CAHPS^®) Survey was developed to establish standardized survey tools and protocols for measuring consumer or patient satisfaction. The CAHPS Health Plan Survey continues to be the national standard used by Commercial and Medicaid plans and many regulatory authorities (e.g., states, CMS, NCQA) to measure, compare and or report on the consumer’s experience with their health plan and health care received.

There are currently four versions of the survey for health plans, covering HMO, POS and PPO products:

1. CAHPS Health Plan Survey 5.0H Adult Version, Commercial
2. CAHPS Health Plan Survey 5.0H Adult Version, Medicaid
3. CAHPS Health Plan Survey 5.0H Child Version, Children With Chronic Conditions (Medicaid)
4. CAHPS Health Plan Survey 5.0H Child Version, Children Without Chronic Conditions (Medicaid)

These survey tools cover a range of topics determined to be of strong relevance to the consumer’s health care experience.  These topics include:

• Access to Care
• Doctor Communication
• Getting Care, Tests and Treatment Needed
• Customer Service

SPH Analytics Survey Administration and Reporting Solution 

SPH Analytics has decades of experience and expertise in conducting the CAHPS Health Plan Surveys for healthcare organizations across the nation as an NCQA-certified HEDIS^® CAHPS^® Survey vendor since the CAHPS program began.

SPH’s CAHPS Health Plan Survey management includes:

• Exceptional project management and customer service
• Strict adherence to survey guidelines and protocol requirements
• Lower non-response bias and more accurate measurement, with higher response rates
• Client tools and resources to monitor project status
• Weekly email updates and reminders
• Online reporting tools and analysis to include user-friendly dashboards
• Compliance with NCQA data submission requirements
• Sharing lessons learned and best practices
• Comprehensive and in-depth final report and analysis to include quality improvement highlights and insights

SPH’s Book of Business Benchmark Comparison

Similar to NCQA and CMS, each year SPH compiles a CAHPS Book of Business report for the CAHPS Health Plan Surveys and Medicare CAHPS Surveys once data submissions are completed. Due to the large number of clients and samples in our book of business, SPH benchmark data has been shown to closely match that of NCQA and CMS, which tends to be published at a much later date. The SPH Book of Business benchmark data enhances the value of our reporting by:

• Providing clients an immediate and meaningful benchmark comparison of their results
• Providing a Book of Business Benchmark Aggregate Report which includes breakdown and analysis of Book of Business data and outcomes over time on key survey measures and survey respondents

Your Resource for Information and Best Practices

With over two decades of experience as an approved survey vendor and working closely with our healthcare clients, SPH provides a wealth of meaningful information and resources including:

• CAHPS Book of Business benchmark and analysis highlighting market trends, insights, and recommendations.
• In-house subject matter experts who stay abreast of regulatory requirements, best practices, and updates to keep our clients informed and prepared to meet evolving healthcare reporting requirements
• Industry-related white papers, blogs, press releases, and articles
• Educational webinars to review regulatory survey requirements, sharing of lessons learned, best practices, and client testimonials

When you partner with SPH Analytics for your CAHPS Surveys, you get much more than the standard survey administration. We become your partner in quality improvement, going the extra mile to give your organization the resources and guidance it needs to meet compliance requirements, make targeted improvements, and compete in today’s healthcare market.

Additional Resources

• CAHPS Planning Checklist
• Webinar Recording: Improving CAHPS with Simulation and Drill-Down Surveys
• Improving CAHPS Scores – Part 1
• Improving CAHPS Scores – Part 2