CGCAHPS (Clinician and Group CAHPS) Information
The Clinician and Group CAHPS (CGCAHPS) survey is a standardized tool to measure patient perceptions of care provided by a physician in an office setting. See the most frequently asked questions below for more information regarding CGCAHPS.
Q: What is CAHPS?
A: The CAHPS acronym stands for Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems and is a family of surveys that includes tools for different types of facility care (e.g., HCAHPS or Hospital CAHPS, NHCAHPS or Nursing Home CAHPS) and ambulatory settings (e.g., CGCAHPS or Clinician and Group CAHPS). The tools are developed by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and are used to understand patients’ perceptions of the quality of their health care.
Q: What is CGCAHPS?
A: The Clinician and Group CAHPS (CGCAHPS) survey is a standardized tool to measure patients' perceptions of care provided by physicians in an office setting.
Q: Who developed CGCAHPS?
A: The Clinician and Group CAHPS set of instruments was developed by AHRQ.
Q: What concept areas are included in CGCAHPS?
A: Items within the CGCAHPS survey instruments can be used to create measures of patients' perceptions of care, including getting appointments and health care when needed, how well doctors communicate, courtesy and helpfulness of office staff and overall rating of the doctor.
Q: What is the status of the CGCAHPS implementation?
A: There are state and regional initiatives that use variations of the publicly available CGCAHPS instrument. There are currently no plans underway for national implementation, but CMS has already implemented the CAHPS program in hospitals and home health agencies as part of its strategy to drive quality reporting.
Q: Will CGCAHPS be linked to payment?
A: Health care reform legislation passed by Congress prompted the creation of a “Physician Compare” web site, launched in January 2011. Physician Compare will include clinical measures already collected through the Physician Quality Reporting Initiative (PQRI). The legislation also requires patient ratings be considered for inclusion on the web site shortly after its initial launch. The bill includes a Quality Reporting provision that will tie non-participation to loss of reimbursement. We anticipate that a CGCAHPS instrument will eventually become a required measurement for full reimbursement.
Q: If CGCAHPS is not yet required, why should we start measuring now?
A: Listening to your patients can pay off in unexpected ways, helping you to prioritize service initiatives, recognize outstanding staff members and increase referrals. With the move toward value-based purchasing and tougher competition, now is the time to make sure that your organization is focused on the importance of patient satisfaction. When the HCAHPS survey was implemented by CMS, those hospitals that adopted our integrated survey in advance outperformed those that waited for mandated participation. Ask us for more information about how paying attention to the voice of your patients can improve your service performance and your bottom-line results.
Q: Does Press Ganey have CGCAHPS experience?
A: Press Ganey has been implementing patient satisfaction surveys and helping to improve the quality of health care for more than 25 years and currently works with more than 600 medical practices today. We have been involved in many CGCAHPS projects including several Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Aligning Forces for Quality (AF4Q) Initiatives. Press Ganey supports many of its clients in the voluntary state, or regional, public reporting of CGCAHPS data. Press Ganey was involved throughout the development of the original HCAHPS tool for hospitals and today conducts the HCAHPS survey for nearly half of all participating hospitals. We will leverage this experience to ensure a seamless transition for our medical practice clients.
Q: Does Press Ganey use the CGCAHPS survey?
A: To support those medical practices that wish to prepare in advance for potential requirement of the CGCAHPS survey by CMS, Press Ganey has developed an integrated survey tool that combines the core CGCAHPS questions with standard Press Ganey patient satisfaction questions.
