Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality March 21, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), with the support of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR) of the U.S. Department of Education are soliciting the submission of instruments or items that measure the quality of healthcare experienced by people with mobility impairment. The instruments or items will be considered for inclusion in a CAHPS[reg] survey of people with mobility impairment (PWMI). Items or survey instruments may be submitted from researchers, health plans, other health care providers, disability organizations, stakeholders, vendors and other interested parties. This initiative is in response to suggestions from a significant number of stakeholders to develop a CAHPS[reg] tool that measures the quality of care as perceived by adults with disabilities, and to provide performance data to health plans and others that are actionable for quality improvement and access. Our response to stakeholder requests will ultimately provide users with a flexible survey tool to assess the quality of healthcare services for adults with disabilities across multiple settings. The focus of this initial project will be only on people with mobility impairments, and subsequent survey projects may focus on other aspects of disability. Many questions in the existing CAHPS instruments address concerns of people with mobility impairments, including access, communication, courtesy and respect, and shared decision-making. We are particularly interested in identifying and considering new content areas, new response categories and scales for existing questions, and revised wording or question order to make existing questions disability- appropriate.