Use of Open-Ended Responses to Explore Disparities in Patient Experience

There is growing evidence that consumers are interested in comments posted by patients online regarding their experiences with their doctors; the number and use of websites with such patient comments has increased rapidly in recent years. Comments from patients often cover the same experiential domains as closed-ended items include on CAHPS surveys, but in ways that can be easier to understand, more engaging, and more persuasive to those reading a report than statistically summarized survey scores. This has led AHRQ to develop Narrative Item Sets (NIS), including for the CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey (CG-CAHPS). Data will be collected from a sample of 4,998 survey respondents drawn from the Ipsos KnowledgePanel, a large nationwide online panel of American adults (over 50,000 panelists) with demographic characteristics consistent with the adult U.S. population. Equal-sized subsamples will be drawn for each of the following groups: non-Hispanic Asian American, Native Hawaiian, or Other Pacific Islander; non-Hispanic Black; Spanish-speaking Hispanic; English-speaking Hispanic; non-Hispanic Multiracial; and non-Hispanic White. Within these six subsamples, we will strive to recruit a roughly equal split of men and women. The survey will be fielded in English and Spanish based on respondent-preferred language.

The latest form for Use of Open-Ended Responses to Explore Disparities in Patient Experience expires 2026-11-30 and can be found here.