CAHPS® Hospice Survey

CAHPS® Hospice Survey

Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Survey

About this Page

The CAHPS® Hospice Survey webpage provides a description of the survey, its measures, and requirements. More details can be found on the technical survey webpage, www.hospicecahpssurvey.org.

For technical assistance contact the CAHPS® Hospice Survey Project Team: hospicecahpssurvey@hsag.com or 1-844-472-4621.

To communicate with CMS staff about survey implementation issues: hospicesurvey@cms.hhs.gov.

Survey Description

The CAHPS® Hospice Survey is a national survey of family members or friends who cared for a patient who died while under hospice care. The survey is conducted monthly. The questionnaire contains 47 questions covering topics of interest to family caregivers and hospice patients. Survey results are published as part of Care Compare on the www.Medicare.gov website.

Publicly reported data includes the following eight measures:

Measure NameQuestions from the Survey
Communication with family

Family caregivers reported how often the hospice team:

  • Kept them informed about when they would arrive to care for their family member
  • Explained things in a way that was easy to understand
  • Listened carefully to them when they talked about problems with their family member’s hospice care
  • Kept them informed about the family member’s condition
  • Listened carefully to them
  • Gave them confusing or contradictory information about their family member’s condition or care
Getting timely help

Family caregivers reported how often:

  • They got help as soon as they needed it, when they asked the hospice team for help
  • They got the help they needed from the hospice team during evenings, weekends, or holidays
Treating patient with respect

Family caregivers reported how often:

  • The hospice team treated their family member with dignity and respect
  • They felt the hospice team really cared about their family member
Emotional and spiritual support

Family caregivers reported how much:

  • Emotional support they got from the hospice team while their family member was in hospice care
  • Emotional support they got from the hospice team in the weeks after their family member died
  • Support they got for their religious or spiritual beliefs
Help for pain and symptoms

Family caregivers reported whether their family member got as much help with pain as needed, and how often their family member got needed help for:

  • Pain
  • Trouble breathing
  • Trouble with constipation
  • Feelings of anxiety or sadness
Training family to care for patient

Family caregivers reported whether the hospice team gave them the training they needed about:

  • Side effects to watch for from pain medicine
  • If and when to give more pain medicine
  • How to help if their family member had trouble breathing
  • How to help if their family member became restless or agitated
Rating of this hospiceFamily caregivers rated this agency on a scale of 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible)
Willing to recommend this hospiceFamily caregivers reported how likely they would be to recommend this agency to other friends or family

Participation Requirements for Hospices

Hospices that have 50 or more survey-eligible patient/family caregiver pairs in a reference year are required to participate in the CAHPS Hospice Survey in order to receive their full Medicare Annual Payment Update (APU).

The table below shows key dates with respect to Hospice survey data collection, including the data collection year, corresponding reference year, and the annual payment update that is impacted. It also includes the deadlines for submitting the size exemption form.

There are two exemptions from data collection for the CAHPS Hospice Survey: size and newness. CAHPS Hospice Survey exemptions DO NOT exempt hospices from the Hospice Item Set (HIS) requirements.

  • Hospices that served fewer than 50 survey-eligible patient/family caregiver pairs during the reference year may apply for a size exemption from the CAHPS Hospice Survey data collection requirements. To apply for the size exemption, fill out and submit the form available at www.hospicecahpssurvey.org. The size exemption is good only for one year. If you qualify for a second year, you must reapply for that year.
  • Hospices that received their CMS Certification Number (CCN) after January 1 of the data collection year will be automatically exempted from Survey participation for that year only. No form is necessary. However, we strongly urge hospices to save the letter they received, providing them with their CCN number.
  • Examples:
    • If your hospice had fewer than 50 survey-eligible patient/family caregiver pairs in 2020, you could have applied for a size exemption from Hospice CAHPS Survey data collection in the calendar year 2021. The exemption would have been good only for 2021. The exemption would have impacted FY 2023 APU.
    • If your hospice received its CCN between January 1, 2021, and December 31, 2021, it would have been granted an automatic exemption from Hospice CAHPS data collection for the calendar year of 2021, which would have impacted the FY 2023 APU. This exemption is good for one year only.

Key Dates for CAHPS Hospice Survey Data Collection Years 2020 - 2023

Data Collection Calendar Year (CY)Reference YearAnnual Payment Update Fiscal Year (FY) ImpactedDeadline for Size Exemption
CY 20212020FY 2023December 31, 2021
CY 20222021FY 2024December 31, 2022
CY 20232022FY 2025December 31, 2023
CY 20242023FY 2026December 31, 2024

For more details about participation requirements and CAHPS® Hospice Survey implementation, please visit the survey website, www.hospicecahpssurvey.org.

Hospice Quality Reporting Program Archives

Page Last Modified:
04/03/2024 02:43 PM
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