Data Collection

The survey project was managed by DataStat Inc., an NCQA-certified vendor, which was chosen from among several vendors who submitted proposals for this project. One sample contained all members who were 18 years or older and enrolled in the health plan at the time of the survey were eligible to participate, this was for both the commercial and Medicaid health plans. A second sample was chosen for CHIP, this sample included all children aged 0 to 17 who had been enrolled with the health plan for 6 months. The survey vendor selected a random sample from each health plan’s enrollment database. Selected enrollees were mailed a survey questionnaire in February of 2007 and sent a reminder if they did not return the survey within two weeks. Follow-up phone calls with members who did not return a survey were conducted in April of 2007. A total of 1560 enrollees in commercial health plans, 1813 enrollees in Medicaid health plans, and 1199 parents of enrollees in CHIP health plans answered the survey.
CAHPS was developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and is used annually by HMOs and health plans nationwide.