HealthStream Research - "With so many acronyms related to HCAHPS, could you provide a reference list?"

As with any subject, knowledge of commonly-used terms can lead to increased understanding. Here are the terms HealthStream Research has found to be most useful for understanding HCAHPS and related government initiatives.

AHRQ	The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is the lead Federal agency charged with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all Americans. As one of 12 agencies within the Department of Health and Human Services, AHRQ supports health services research that will improve the quality of health care and promote evidence-based decision making. AHRQ was responsible for the development of the HCAHPS survey instruments.
CAHPS	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.
CMS	Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services
HCAHPS	(Hospital) Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems. The official HCAHPS information website is http://hcahpsonline.org.
HSAG	Health Services Advisory Group: HSAG is the project team leader for HCAHPS implementation. HSAG develops and manages the QAG.
HQA	The Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA): Improving Care through Information is a public/private collaboration to improve the quality of care provided by the nation's hospitals by measuring and publicly reporting on that care. HQA creates and manages the HospitalCompare preview reports.
NCQA	National Committee for Quality Assurance is responsible for HCAHPS oversight and regulation.
QAP	Quality Assurance Plan: Survey vendors approved to participate in HCAHPS must develop a QAP to guide their survey documentation process. The QAP is an evolving document in that it should reflect changes in personnel, resources, and processes in the approved organization to administer the survey.
QAG	Quality Assurance Guidelines have been developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to standardize the survey data collection process and to ensure comparability of data reported through the CAHPS Hospital Survey (also known as Hospital CAHPS or HCAHPS). Hospitals and survey vendors must be in compliance with these guidelines.
QIO	Under the direction of CMS, the Quality Improvement Organization (QIO) Program consists of a national network of 53 QIOs, responsible for each U.S. state, territory, and the District of Columbia. QIOs work with consumers and physicians, hospitals, and other caregivers to refine care delivery systems to make sure patients get the right care at the right time, particularly patients from underserved populations. For each state, the relevant QIO is responsible for supporting hospitals' participation in all public reporting for quality measures.
QNET	Established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), QualityNet provides healthcare quality improvement news, resources and data reporting tools and applications used by healthcare providers and others. QualityNet is the central database that populates the HospitalCompare website.
RHQDAPU	Reporting Hospital Quality Data for Annual Payment Update: The RHQDAPU initiative requires hospitals to submit data for specific quality measures for health conditions common among people with Medicare, and which typically result in hospitalization. The RHQDAPU initiative requires hospitals to submit data for specific quality measures for health conditions common among people with Medicare, and which typically result in hospitalization. CMS requires that hospitals submit data regarding 30 quality measures. The data collected encompasses the following conditions: acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, pneumonia, surgical care improvement, 30-day mortality rates for acute myocardial infarction, heart failure and pneumonia patients, and the patients' experience of care through the HCAHPS patient survey. Hospitals that do not participate in the RHQDAPU initiative will receive a reduction of 2.0 percent in their Medicare Annual Payment Update.
VBP	The Value-Based Purchasing program (VBP) is a CMS proposal that would reduce diagnostic-related group (DRG) payments for Medicare patients, but would also provide a chance to "earn" the money back through high performance or significant improvement on key measures, which now includes HCAHPS performance. Value-based purchasing (VBP), which links payment to performance, is a key policy mechanism that CMS is proposing to transform Medicare from a passive payer of claims to an active purchaser of care. The proposed timeline is set for implementation in 2010 or 2011.

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