About CAHPS

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) program develops and supports the use of a comprehensive and evolving family of standardized surveys that ask consumers and patients to report on and evaluate their experiences with health care. These surveys cover topics that are important to consumers, such as the communication skills of providers and the accessibility of services. CAHPS originally stood for the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study, but as the products have evolved beyond health plans, the name has evolved as well to capture the full range of survey products and tools.

View a program brief with general information about the CAHPS initiative. (PDF, 218 KB; PDF Help)

The CAHPS Program

The CAHPS program is funded and administered by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), which works closely with a consortium of public and private organizations.

Learn more about the CAHPS program, the Consortium, and its goals.

Principles Underlying CAHPS Surveys

Over the past 10 years, the CAHPS Consortium has established a set of principles to guide the development of CAHPS surveys and related tools. These principles include identifying and supporting the consumer’s or patient’s information needs, conducting thorough scientific testing, ensuring comparability of data, maintaining an open development process, and keeping products in the public domain.

Learn more about these principles.

Users of CAHPS Surveys and Data

Users of CAHPS survey results include patients and consumers, quality monitors and regulators, purchasers, provider organizations, and health plans. These individuals and organizations use the data to inform their purchasing or contracting decisions and to improve the quality of health care services.

Learn more about the users of CAHPS surveys and data. 

The CAHPS User Network

In order to support sponsors and survey users, AHRQ created the CAHPS User Network. The User Network is responsible for making the survey products available, providing technical assistance and education, and facilitating networking among users.

Learn more about the CAHPS User Network.