Timeline of HCAHPS Development

Hospitals implement HCAHPS under the auspices of the Hospital Quality Alliance, a private/public partnership that includes major hospital associations, government agencies, consumer groups, measurement and accrediting bodies, and other stakeholders that share a common interest in improving hospital quality.  Following is a timeline of how the survey was developed:

• The CMS partnered with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), another agency in the Department of Health and Human Services,  to develop HCAHPS. AHRQ carried out a rigorous, scientific process to develop and test the HCAHPS instrument.  The process entailed multiple steps, including a call for measures, literature review; cognitive interviews, consumer focus groups, stakeholder input, a three-state pilot test, consumer testing, small-scale field tests, and responding to public comments generated by several Federal Register notices.
• In May 2005, the HCAHPS survey was endorsed by NQF.
• In December 2005, the Federal Office of Management and Budget gave its final approval for the national implementation of HCAHPS for public reporting purposes. Acting on a NQF recommendation, CMS commissioned an independent research firm, Abt Associates, Inc., to conduct an analysis of the benefits and costs of HCAHPS. 
• In March 2008, the first public reporting of HCAHPS, which encompassed eligible discharges from October 2006 through June 2007, occurred.  The results were posted on the Hospital Compare web site, www.hospitalcopare.hhs.gov , and also available through a link on www.medicare.gov.