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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

The following Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) aim to help home health agencies (HHAs) better understand HHCAHPS:

Question: What is HHCAHPS?

Answer: The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Home Health Care Survey (HHCAHPS) measures the experiences and perceptions of patients who receive home health care from Medicare-certified HHAs.


Question: Are all HHAs required to participate in HHCAHPS?

Answer: All Medicare-certified HHAs with over 60 eligible patients must participate in HHCAHPS in order to receive their full annual Medicare market basket update. HHAs that have fewer than 60 eligible, unduplicated Medicare and/or Medicaid patients would be exempt from data collection from third quarter of 2010 through second quarter of 2011. In February 2010, information about how small, Medicare-certified HHAs can apply for an exemption from participating in HHCAHPS will be available at https://homehealthcahps.org


Question: Which home health patients can complete the HHCAHPS survey?

Answer: The following types of home health care patients are eligible to participate in the HHCAHPS survey:

  • Medicare or Medicaid patients

  • Patients who were at least 18 years of age at any time during the sample period, and are believed to be alive

  • Patients who received at least two skilled care visits from HHA personnel in the past 60 days and had at least one skilled care visit during the sample month

  • Patients who have not been selected for the monthly sample during any month in the current quarter or during the five months immediately prior to the sample month

  • Patients who are not currently receiving hospice care

  • Patients who do not have “maternity” as the primary reason for receiving home health care

  • Patients who have not requested “no publicity status.”

Question: Do HHAs need to use a vendor to conduct the HHCAHPS survey?

Answer: Yes, HHAs must contract with an approved HHCAHPS survey vendor.


Question: How is the HHCAHPS survey administered?

Answer: The HHCAHPS survey can be administered by mail, telephone or mixed mode (mail with telephone follow-up).


Question: Can HHAs add questions to the HHCAHPS survey?

Answer: Yes, HHAs may add their own questions to the HHCAHPS survey. Supplemental questions and their responses do not need to be approved by or reported to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). There are rules for the placement of additional questions in the HHCAHPS survey.


Question: Some HHAs do not have enough patients to obtain the targeted 300 completed HHCAHPS surveys per year. For HHAs that have multiple locations and/or are part of a chain, can smaller agencies pool their patient populations and conduct one survey that will represent two or more agencies?

Answer: Sampling for the national implementation will be conducted at the CMS Certification Number (CCN) level. Some HHAs have multiple locations sharing the same CCN. In this case, a sample of patients across all locations with the same CCN will be selected, so the results will represent all agencies with the same CCN; however, if two or more agencies do not have the same CCN, then they cannot pool their patients and conduct one survey. A separate survey must be conducted for each agency.


Question: When is the HHCAHPS dry run going to be held?

Answer: The HHCAHPS dry run is going to be held in the third quarter (July, August and September) of 2010. All Medicare-certified HHAs that want to participate in the HHCAHPS national implementation, which will begin on October 1, 2010, must participate in at least one month of the HHCAHPS dry run.


Question: Will data from the HHCAHPS dry run be available to the public?

Answer: No, data from the HHCAHPS dry run will not be available to the public.


Question: When will HHCAHPS data be available to the public?

Answer: The first public reporting of HHCAHPS data will occur in 2011.


Question: Who at DRC should I contact for more information about HHCAHPS?

Answer: For more information about HHCAHPS and DRC’s HHCAHPS program, please contact Jack Fentress at jfentress@datarecognitioncorp.com or 763-509-3780.