Michigan Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS)

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) is a set of survey tools developed to assess patient satisfaction with their health plan.  Developed jointly by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), the CAHPS 5.0 survey is the most comprehensive tool available for assessing consumers' experiences with their health plans.  The topics covered by the CAHPS® survey are: (Ratings) Personal Doctor, Specialist Seen Most Often, Health Care, and Health Plan, and (Composites) Getting Needed Care, Getting Care Quickly, How Well Doctors Communicate and Customer Service and Shared Decision Making.  

To better understand consumer perception of quality, the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) requires the Medicaid contracted health plans to conduct an annual consumer satisfaction survey of their adult enrollees.  In addition, MDHHS contracts with a vendor to conduct annual surveys of the Medicaid child population.  The survey results are an important component of Medicaid program management and oversight. An additional function of the survey is to provide information to support informed consumer choices of health care services through an annual report card entitled, " A Guide to Michigan Medicaid Health Plans."