The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) program is a public-private initiative to develop standardized surveys of patients' experiences with ambulatory and facility-level care.

Health care organizations, public and private purchasers, consumers, and researchers use CAHPS results to:

• Assess the patient-centeredness of care;
• Compare and report on performance; and
• Improve quality of care. 

CAHPS Survey Instruments
CAHPS survey products address a range of health care services at multiple levels of the delivery system. These products fall into two categories: ambulatory care surveys and facility surveys.

Ambulatory Care Surveys
Ambulatory care surveys ask enrollees and patients about their experiences with ambulatory care delivered by health plans, medical groups, individual clinicians and mental health providers. These products include item sets designed to gather information about the experiences of specific segments of the population.

Facility Surveys
Facility surveys ask patients about their experiences with care and services delivered in institutions such as hospitals, dialysis centers and nursing homes.