The CAHPS® Cancer Care Survey is the first Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey designed for a specific illness. Created by AIR and the Mayo Clinic, it assesses the experiences of adults receiving cancer treatment in outpatient and inpatient settings, including independent community oncology practices, cancer centers at community hospitals and cancer centers at academic medical centers (including those designated as comprehensive cancer centers by the National Cancer Institute (NCI)). The survey’s three instruments, available in English and Spanish, correspond to the major treatment modalities: radiation oncology, medical oncology, and cancer surgery. They build on the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey to capture cancer care features that are important to patients and for which patients are the best source of information.

The survey is used to improve the patient-centered focus of cancer centers, oncology practices, hospitals, and health systems. Results can also inform decisions made by providers, patients and their families; accrediting organizations, and payers.

Based on analyses of the field test results and input from the CAHPS Consortium, the survey was finalized and approved by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) for the CAHPS trademark in 2016. This survey was funded and developed in collaboration with the NIH’s National Cancer Institute, AHRQ, and the California Health Care Foundation.