Hospice CAHPS
Axxess is a trusted partner in ensuring your compliance with the Hospice CAHPS Survey while delivering exceptional results, following our best practice methods. All survey operations are performed in-house, allowing for complete management and total quality control throughout all survey administration processes.
Why Partner with Axxess as Your Hospice CAHPS Survey Vendor?
- Experience working with small to enterprise health organizations to administer surveys
- Seamless integration for automatic receipt of files
- In-House programming resources for unique data needs
- Ongoing consultation and best practices to increase patient response to survey
- Ongoing patient sample adjustments to deliver the best response rates
- Surveys administered in caregiver’s preferred language to optimize survey responses
- Approval for all CMS-approved methodologies – mail, telephone, mixed mode
- Real-time responses delivered in user-friendly online portal
- Integration of Hospice Compare quality measures for tracking performance, improving care delivery, and optimizing decedent/caregiver experience
Hospice CAHPS FAQ
What is Hospice CAHPS?
The Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey was created to assess the experiences of decedents who died while receiving hospice care from Medicare-certified hospice agencies, as well as the experiences of their caregivers. The survey results produce comparable data on decedents’/caregivers’ perspectives of care, allowing objective and meaningful comparisons across hospices on domains important to consumers, while creating incentives for hospices to improve their quality of care.
Who is required to participate?
Any Medicare-certified hospice agency serving 50 or more patients with Medicare or Medicaid (including Medicare/Medicaid Advantage programs) as an insurer are required to participate, as a condition of participation.
How is Hospice CAHPS administered?
The Hospice CAHPS Survey is administered by mail, telephone, or mixed (mail survey followed by telephone) mode, and can only be conducted by a CMS-approved Hospice CAHPS vendor. Since survey administration occurs after the decedent’s death, the survey must be completed by a caregiver who is knowledgeable about the decedent’s hospice care. The survey results are submitted to CMS by the Hospice CAHPS vendor.
What questions are on the Hospice CAHPS Survey?
The Hospice CAHPS Survey contains 47 questions that allow caregivers to rate the decedent’s service on the topics of:
- Communication with Family
- Getting Timely Help
- Treating Patient with Respect
- Emotional and Spiritual Support
- Help for Pain and Symptoms
- Training Family to Care for Patient
- Rating of this Hospice
- Willingness to Recommend this Hospice
These topics are important to consumers seeking to choose a hospice care provider. A copy of the survey questionnaire can be found at this site.
Any public reporting of CAHPS Hospice Survey results?
The official Hospice CAHPS Survey results are reported on the Hospice Compare web site with six composites (groups of questions) and two global items. CMS provides Hospice CAHPS Preview Reports at least a quarter prior to public release, to provide hospice agencies an opportunity to verify the results and identify any issues or discrepancies prior to release. Unofficial results are available from approved Hospice CAHPS vendors contracted by hospice agencies to administer their Hospice CAHPS Surveys. It is important to contract with vendors who provide additional support with improving survey results beyond the basic reporting.
