The In-Center Hemodialysis Survey Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®), hereafter referred to as the "ICH CAHPS Survey," is designed to measure the experiences of people receiving in-center hemodialysis care from Medicare-certified dialysis centers (also known as ICH facilities or dialysis facilities). The survey is designed to meet the following three broad goals:
- Produce comparable data from the patient’s perspective that will allow objective and meaningful comparisons between dialysis centers on domains that are important to consumers.
- Create incentives for dialysis centers to improve their quality of care.
- Enhance public accountability in health care by increasing the transparency of the quality of care provided in return for public investment.
Specifically, the survey measures patients’ experiences on topics that are necessary for making more informed choices when selecting a dialysis center as well as helping dialysis centers participating in the study to improve the quality of dialysis care for their patients. The following types of patient experiences are included:
- communication and care provided by kidney doctors,
- quality of the dialysis center‘s care and operations, and
- providing of information to patients.