Date: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 1996
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: AHCPR Public Affairs, 301/594-1364, Karen Migdail ext.
174, and Paula Zeller ext. 148

AHCPR ANNOUNCES FACULTY OF A NEW INITIATIVE TO ASSIST CONSUMERS IN SELECTING HIGH-QUALITY HEALTH PLANS

The Agency for Health Care Policy and Research today announced the members of three consortia who will implement a major new initiative to assist consumers in selecting high-quality health care plans and services. The project, entitled Consumer Assessments of Health Plans Study (CAHPS), consists of cooperative agreements totaling $10 million over five years with three consortia headed by Research Triangle Institute, the RAND Corporation and Harvard University.

AHCPR Administrator Clifton R. Gaus, Sc.D., said "Surveys by objective, non-government polling firms have shown that most Americans would like to have more information to help them choose hospitals, doctors and health care plans. We have brought together the nation's top experts in patient satisfaction and survey research to develop and test best methods for measuring consumers' satisfaction with their health plans and methods for communicating the results to consumers."

The surveys will be tested at several demonstration sites throughout the country, and will focus on a variety of health plans and service delivery settings, including HMOs, fee-for-service plans and public health clinics offering services to low-income individuals. CAHPS surveys, and reports for consumers based on survey information, will be tested at each of these sites. In the final phase of the project, CAHPS researchers will determine if the survey-based reports for consumers actually improve their ability to select appropriate health plans and services.

Dr. Gaus said that CAHPS differs from other efforts at consumer assessment of health plans in some critical ways. "Most of the existing survey instruments are limited to assessment of consumer satisfaction with plans," he said. "Surveys developed under CAHPS will ask consumers about additional areas of importance to them, including their access to care, their use of plan services--or reasons for not using services--and their rating of the quality of care they received and the outcomes of that care."

According to Robert M. Krughoff, president of the Center for the Study of Services/Consumers Checkbook Magazine, "Consumers who are trying to choose health plans that best meet their needs want to know--and need to know--about current plans members' experience with the plans. We expect the CAHPS effort will produce a high-quality, broadly accepted set of questionnaires and ways of reporting results--enabling consumers to compare plans on a uniform footing nationwide."

Several fundamental questions provide the basis for each survey item to be developed under CAHPS, including: "How will this information help consumers spend their health care dollars more effectively?" and "How will this empower consumers to choose high-quality plans at a cost and coverage level appropriate for their budgets and families?"

The project also will help managed care organizations with their efforts to provide high-quality care. "We know that virtually all Health Maintenance Organizations depend on patient satisfaction surveys for continuous quality improvement," said Karen Ignani, president of the Group Health Association of America. "The AHCPR research investment in systems to measure patient satisfaction will improve health care quality and services."

A related contract awarded by AHCPR to Westat, Inc., will assure that the survey instruments and communication devices developed under CAHPS get into the hands of consumers, employers, plans, unions and other interested parties as quickly as possible. Under terms of the Survey User Network (SUN) contract, Westat will also provide technical assistance for users of the survey in order to facilitate their use. Funding for the first year of support is $497,000.

Research Triangle Institute (RTI) Consortium

Bob Gris
Center on Disability and Health

Charles Homer
Children's Hospital

RAND Consortium