Measuring hospital care from the patients' perspective: an overview of the CAHPS Hospital Survey development process.
OBJECTIVE
To describe the developmental process for the CAHPS Hospital Survey.


METHODS
A pilot was conducted in three states with 19,720 hospital discharges.


METHODS
A rigorous, multi-step process was used to develop the CAHPS Hospital Survey. It included a public call for measures, multiple Federal Register notices soliciting public input, a review of the relevant literature, meetings with hospitals, consumers and survey vendors, cognitive interviews with consumer, a large-scale pilot test in three states and consumer testing and numerous small-scale field tests.


RESULTS
The current version of the CAHPS Hospital Survey has survey items in seven domains, two overall ratings of the hospital and five items used for adjusting for the mix of patients across hospitals and for analytical purposes.


CONCLUSIONS
The CAHPS Hospital Survey is a core set of questions that can be administered as a stand-alone questionnaire or combined with a broader set of hospital specific items.
Goldstein
Elizabeth
E
Centers for Medicare & Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21244, USA.
Farquhar
Marybeth
M
Crofton
Christine
C
Darby
Charles
C
Garfinkel
Steven
S
D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires