Making survey results easy to report to consumers - How reporting needs guided survey design in CAHPS (TM)

OBJECTIVES. CAHPS(TM) is designed to report information about health care q uality from the consumer perspective. Enrollees are surveyed about their ex periences with their health plan and medical care, and results are reported to other consumers choosing among health plans. Based on survey instrument s designed to elicit reliable and valid information about health plan exper iences from plan enrollees, the aim of the CAHPS(TM) team was to design a s eries of reporting products that present survey results so that consumers f ind the information understandable, meaningful, and useful in choosing amon g health plans. METHODS. Design of the survey instruments and reporting products were close ly linked. The approach to reporting was based on previous research on cons umers' information interests and needs in evaluating and choosing among pla ns. Cognitive tests were conducted with consumers to get their reactions to mock-ups of various approaches to reporting CAHPS(TM) survey results. RESULTS. Findings from previous research and cognitive testing, together wi th feedback from various experts and the public, were used to modify the su rvey questions, response options, and reporting formats to make it easier f or consumers to understand and use reports. Changes included dropping topic s of less interest to consumers, changing question wordings that were hard to understand, minimizing the number of different response categories, and revising questions to make them easier to group together for purposes of re porting. CONCLUSIONS, The CAHPS(TM) focus on reporting results to consumers presente d an unusual challenge for survey design, requiring close coordination betw een instrument design and report development to produce a survey and report ing kit that serves consumers' information needs.