The following blog post was written by Maggy Stewart, Graphic Designer & Marketing Coordinator at RMS.
The Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ) recently posted the results from their Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Clinician & Group Survey 2016 data submissions. How well providers communicate with patients is the highest scoring measure within the clinicians and groups survey, according to AHRQ. As a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved vendor, Research & Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) compares its clients’ scores against the national averages and found that “in looking at the overall rating of provider scores, we are seeing that 83 percent of our clients score above the national average of 88 percent in this category,” said Jeanne Winfree, RMS CAHPS Customer Relations & Data Reporting Supervisor. “When new clients come to RMS, we guide them through a process in which they are actively engaged in patient surveying and they see an increase in their scores, not only in this category, but across all composite areas.”
The lowest scoring measure among all survey versions was getting timely appointments, care and information. Hematology/oncology has among the highest scores across specialties for all composite measures. One of the most common questions regarding scoring measures pertains to improving response rates, said Winfree. “For response rates, we generally look at patient demographics and what methodology is currently being used for their surveying process (mail, online, telephone or a mix of these). We may adjust components such as sampling rates, changing methodologies, or adding more content to the survey to improve insights.” The RMS CAHPS Team also analyzes client data on a case-by-case basis to help discover potential barriers or areas for improvement.
The CG-CAHPS Survey asks patients about their recent experiences with clinicians and staff in doctors’ offices. The results are based on the voluntary submission of survey data to the CAHPS database by medical practices, health systems and others administering the CG-CAHPS Survey. According to AHRQ, the 2016 CG-CAHPS Database includes 268,348 surveys submitted by 1,587 practices.
*CAHPS® Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems is a registered trademark of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
About RMS Healthcare
RMS Healthcare, a division of Research and Marketing Strategies, Inc. (RMS) provides operational support, consulting and research services, tailoring their expertise to optimize your organization’s performance. They are a leading healthcare team with proven experience and success in practice transformation and patient surveying.
