CAHPS Survey for Accountable Care Organizations Participating in Medicare Initiatives
Guidance for Overview: The CAHPS for ACOs survey was developed to collect information about patient experience of care received from Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (Shared Savings Program) and the Next Generation ACO Model.
Issued by: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)
Issue Date: February 11, 2020
Overview: The CAHPS for ACOs survey lets accountable care organizations participating in the Next Generation ACO Model meet their requirement to measure patient experience of care. The Next Generation ACO Model is an initiative for ACOs that are experienced in coordinating care for populations of patients. The goal of the Model is to test whether strong financial incentives for ACOs, coupled with tools to support better patient engagement and care management, can improve health outcomes and lower expenditures for Original Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries.
About the survey: For Performance Year (PY) 2021, the CAHPS for ACOs survey is administered to samples of Medicare beneficiaries that receive care from providers that participate in Next Generation Model ACOs. The survey uses a mixed mode data collection that includes two survey mailings and follow-up phone calls to beneficiaries that did not respond to the mailed questionnaire. The survey includes the core questions contained in the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey (Version 3.0), plus additional questions to measure access to and use of specialist care, experience with care coordination, patient involvement in decision-making, experiences with a health care team, health promotion and patient education, patient functional status, and general health.
Public reporting and policy relevance: The ACO quality measure set spans two quality domains: Patient/Caregiver Experience and Care Coordination/Patient Safety. The CAHPS for ACOs Summary Survey Measures (SSMs) comprise the Patient/Caregiver Experience domain. Next Generation ACO Model quality and financial data is available on the Next Generation ACO Model website. Survey results may also be reported on Care Compare and used in the Quality Payment Program (QPP); please visit the Care Compare and QPP websites for additional information.
For more information about the CAHPS for ACOs survey, please visit the CAHPS for ACOs website: http://acocahps.cms.gov. You may also contact the CAHPS for ACOs project team at acocahps@hcqis.org.
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