CAHPS Home and Community-Based Services Survey

Overview

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Home and Community-Based (HCBS CAHPS®) Survey is the first cross-disability survey for adults receiving long-term services and supports from state Medicaid home and community-based services and supports (HCBS) programs. The experience of care survey is designed to facilitate comparisons across the hundreds of state Medicaid HCBS programs throughout the country that include older adults, persons with physical disabilities, persons with intellectual or developmental disabilities, persons with acquired brain injury, and persons with mental health or substance use disorders.

The HCBS CAHPS Survey is available for use in HCBS programs as part of quality assurance and improvement activities and public reporting.

About the Survey

The HCBS CAHPS Survey is a questionnaire with a maximum of 69 core items developed for measuring experience with the Medicaid HCBS delivered by providers. Core questions cover topics such as getting needed services, communication with providers, case managers, choice of services, medical transportation, and personal safety, as well as community inclusion and empowerment. The survey also includes three cognitive screening questions, nine questions to identify the relevant HCBS services to be asked about, and 15 demographic questions. A 21-item module on experience with employment services is offered as a separate supplement. The survey was developed to be administered by an interviewer in person or by telephone. English and Spanish versions of the instrument are available.

The HCBS CAHPS Survey was developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for use by state Medicaid programs, including both fee-for-service HCBS programs as well as managed long-term services and supports (MLTSS) programs. States with adequate sample sizes may consider using survey metrics in value-based purchasing initiatives. Among other metrics, the survey items support scale measures (or composite measures). Composite measures provide information on HCBS staff reliability, communication with HCBS staff, getting help from case managers, choice of services, personal safety, adequacy of medical transportation, and community inclusion and empowerment.

The HCBS CAHPS Survey Database receives data voluntarily submitted by state Medicaid agencies and MLTSS plans. For information regarding participating in the HCBS CAHPS Database, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has webcast training materials available on the AHRQ HCBS CAHPS database website.

Annual HCBS CAHPS Chartbook

AHRQ publishes annual Chartbooks which present summary results for the HCBS CAHPS Survey Database. Chartbooks are available on the AHRQ website from 2023 to 2026.

Download the Survey and Supplemental Modules

HCBS CAHPS Survey Version 1.1 is available to replace Version 1.0 and includes slight revisions to improve data quality and offers flexibility for survey administrators in grouping and fielding questions. Version 1.1 is available for use in English, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese (simplified and traditional), German, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil and Portugal), Russian, Tagalog, and Vietnamese. All survey languages, prenotification letters, and follow up letters are 508 compliant and available for download via zip file. The HCBS CAHPS Survey Version 1.0 instrument continues to be available as state Medicaid agencies transition to the updated survey.

The HCBS CAHPS survey has two supplemental modules available: Employment Supplemental Module and Behavioral Health Supplemental Module. The Behavioral Health Supplemental Module was developed after state requests for behavioral health-specific experience of care data.

Download Technical Assistance Materials

Additional Information

Questions or requests for technical assistance related to the HCBS CAHPS Survey can be directed to HCBSQuality@cms.hhs.gov.

For more information about the CAHPS surveys, a program of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, please visit this site.