AHA Supports Proposed Changes for Virtual CAHPS Surveys
By - The American Hospital Association (AHA) expressed support Friday for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s (AHRQ’s) proposal to improve the Clinician and Group Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) survey patient experience.
The primary focus of the proposed changes is a push for shorter virtual surveys and an abridged reference time period from twelve to six months. Proposed changes aim to alleviate general survey burdens for patients and providers while preserving vital information and maintaining overall survey consistency.
“It is critical that surveys include a parsimonious set of questions so that valuable patient time and finite provider resources are used efficiently and effectively,” Linda Fishman, AHA Senior Vice President of Public Policy Analysis and Development writes in a letter addressed to CAHPS Program Director Christine Crofton, PhD.
Despite other means of survey administration such as via phone or mail, surveys submitted and completed online or via email are noted to be more cost-effective and economical options, Fishman and the AHA contend.
Current survey administration and data collection methods result in high costs with the effect of substantial patient burden.
Patients have tangibly expressed their ongoing frustration about the extended amounts of time needed to complete a given survey, Fishman adds.
Since patients may receive multiple CAHPS surveys — including those for hospitals, nursing homes, dialysis facilities and home health agencies — they often spend more time completing them. Providers, in turn, require extended resources to process this increased amount of data, says Fishman.
In addition to the option of virtually administered surveys, the letter weighs other methods of survey administration such as the amount and placement of questions.
Mailed surveys, although cheap to administer, typically fail to generate a strong number of responses. Although surveys via phone usually garner a higher volume of responses with the added advantage of more time-efficient results, they are quite costly to administer, the letter also states.
To promote consistency and reduce further burden, AHA is suggesting AHRQ adjust the reference time period from the last twelve months to the last six months for each survey question and make this information publically accessible.
AHRQ recommended CAHPS surveys be restructured to question reformat. A first proposal is to move several core CG-CAHPS and PCMH item set questions to the supplemental questions section. A second proposal is to reduce the CG-CAHPS survey questions from thirty-four to thirty-one and the core PCMH set from eighteen questions to six questions.
“AHRQ has provided very limited guidance on appropriate procedures for using electronic survey methodologies,” Fishman explains. “Yet, electronic survey administration modes, such as email and web-based portals, make survey data collection and aggregation timelier and less expensive, and may allow hospitals to increase sample size without greatly increasing cost.”
“In developing guidance for emailed and web-based surveys, AHRQ also should engage with hospitals and other providers that have been using emailed and web-based surveys to collect data on patient experience informally,” says Fishman.
