What is HCAHPS (pronounced “H-CAPS”)?
HCAHPS is a national, standardized survey administered within 48 hours to six weeks after discharge to a random sample of hospital patients over the age of 18. The survey asks 10 questions about patients’ perspectives on important measures of care. You can use the HCAHPS results to compare patients’ perspectives among different hospitals and of individual hospitals to state and national benchmarks. HCAHPS was developed by a partnership of public and private organizations and the methodologies and results are in the public domain. Development of the survey was funded by the federal government, specifically the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Hospitals implement HCAHPS through the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA). CMS is responsible for oversight of the survey. Updated results are released publicly on a quarterly basis and reflect the most recent four quarters of data. More information is available on the HCHAPS web
