Carman K L, Short P F, Farley D O, Schnaier J A, Elliott D B, Gallagher P M
Health and Social Policy Division, Research Triangle Institute, Washington, DC 20036-3209, USA.
Med Care. 1999 Mar;37(3 Suppl):MS97-105.
The Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Study (CAHPS) was developed to provide an integrated set of tested, standardized surveys to obtain meaningful information from health plan enrollees and their experiences. Many organizations began to implement CAHPS in 1997. Formal evaluations of the experiences of three demonstration sites with implementing CAHPS (ie, process evaluations) and the impact of CAHPS on consumer's choices (ie, outcome evaluations) were conducted. This article reports on the early findings and feedback from our process evaluations about the sites' experiences with using CAHPS. Results are presented from the first round demonstration sites, including the lessons learned during the demonstrations. Our plans for future demonstrations and evaluations are included.
A similar evaluation design and instruments were used across demonstration sites. The process evaluation to monitor program intervention included on-site interviews, off-site review of documents, and focus groups with consumers.
There are 4 early results from the CAHPS demonstrations: (1) the CAHPS survey covers topics of importance to sponsors, is of reasonable length, and can be administered quickly; (2) the report templates are being used effectively, but sponsors vary widely in their preferences for summarizing and presenting CAHPS ratings; (3) standardized or off-the-shelf products are aspects of CAHPS that sponsors value highly, while emphasizing need for further development; and (4) because surveys like CAHPS require multiple within-plan samples to make plan comparisons, they require a substantial investment and may be affordable only for large sponsors.
The first round CAHPS demonstrations highlighted the strengths of the integrated surveys and the areas for improving the products and the implementation process.
消费者健康计划评估研究（CAHPS）旨在提供一套经过测试的、标准化的综合调查问卷，以从健康计划参保者及其经历中获取有意义的信息。许多组织于1997年开始实施CAHPS。对三个实施CAHPS的示范点的经验进行了正式评估（即过程评估），并评估了CAHPS对消费者选择的影响（即结果评估）。本文报告了我们对这些示范点使用CAHPS的过程评估的早期发现和反馈。展示了第一轮示范点的结果，包括示范过程中吸取的经验教训。还包括我们未来示范和评估的计划。
在各个示范点使用了类似的评估设计和工具。监测项目干预的过程评估包括现场访谈、文件的非现场审查以及与消费者的焦点小组讨论。
CAHPS示范有4个早期结果：（1）CAHPS调查问卷涵盖了对主办方重要的主题，长度合理，且能快速实施；（2）报告模板得到了有效使用，但主办方在总结和呈现CAHPS评分的偏好上差异很大；（3）标准化或现成产品是主办方高度重视的CAHPS的方面，同时强调需要进一步开发；（4）由于像CAHPS这样的调查需要多个计划内样本进行计划比较，它们需要大量投资，可能只有大型主办方才能负担得起。
第一轮CAHPS示范突出了综合调查问卷的优势以及产品和实施过程中需要改进的领域。
