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 Name | Questions from the Survey |
| Communication with family | Family caregivers reported how often the hospice team:
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| Getting timely help | Family caregivers reported how often:
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| Treating patient with respect | Family caregivers reported how often:
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| Emotional and spiritual support | Family caregivers reported how much:
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| 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:
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| Training family to care for patient | Family caregivers reported whether the hospice team gave them the training they needed about:
|
| Rating of this hospice | Family caregivers rated this agency on a scale of 0 (worst possible) to 10 (best possible) |
| Willing to recommend this hospice | Family 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 2023, you could have applied for a size exemption from CAHPS Hospice Survey data collection in the calendar year 2024. The exemption would have been good only for 2024. The exemption would have impacted FY 2026 APU.
- If your hospice received its CCN on or after January 1, 2024, it would have been granted an automatic exemption from CAHPS Hospice Survey data collection for the calendar year of 2024, which would have impacted the FY 2026 APU. This exemption is good for one year only.[LF1] [AH2]
Key Dates for CAHPS Hospice Survey Data Collection Years 2023 - 2026
| Data Collection Calendar Year (CY) | Reference Year | Annual Payment Update Fiscal Year (FY) Impacted | Deadline for Size Exemption |
| CY 2024 | 2023 | FY 2026 | December 31, 2024 |
| CY 2025 | 2024 | FY 2027 | December 31, 2025 |
| CY 2026 | 2025 | FY 2028 | December 31, 2026 |
| CY 2027 | 2026 | FY 2029 | December 31, 2027 |
For more details about participation requirements and CAHPS® Hospice Survey implementation, please visit the CAHPS® Hospice Survey webpage.