ICH CAHPS Announcements

Back

Announcements

Only One Week before the Deadline to submit the ICH CAHPS Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form for the 2026 Spring Survey
Facility Participation RequirementsPosted February 20, 2026

This is a reminder that survey vendors must notify the Coordination Team of any authorized ICH facilities who have closed or will be closing before the 2026 Spring Survey data collection period by completing and submitting the online Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form as soon as possible after learning of such closure(s), and no later than 5:00 PM Eastern Time on February 28, 2026.

Vendors can access the Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form by logging into the website and choosing “Vendor Facility Closing Attestation” form, which is under the For Vendors tab at the top of the website’s home page. Once a Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form is submitted by a survey vendor, an email will be sent to both the currently authorized vendor and the facility’s Survey Administrator to notify the facility that the vendor has submitted the form on the facility’s behalf. If a facility or vendor receives this email and feels that the form has been submitted in error, they should contact the Coordination Team immediately.

If a vendor learns that a facility has closed or will be closing after this deadline and will not participate in the 2026 Spring Survey, both the vendor and the facility should contact the Coordination Team immediately for guidance on next steps.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team at 1-866-245-8083 or via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions or need more information about the Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form.

Reminder: The 2026 ICH CAHPS Survey Facility Non-Participation Form Deadline is February 28, 2026
Facility Participation RequirementsPosted February 20, 2026

Please note that the deadline for submitting the 2026 Facility Non-Participation Form for the ICH CAHPS Survey is 5:00 PM Eastern Time on February 28, 2026. To access this form, login to the website using your user credentials and choose “Facility Non-Participation Form” under the For Facilities menu.

As noted in an email message sent to in-center hemodialysis (ICH) facilities on January 5, 2026 and posted under the Quick Links menu on the ICH CAHPS website’s home page, all ICH facilities must determine whether they will be required to administer the ICH CAHPS Surveys in calendar year 2026 by counting the number of survey-eligible patients they served in 2025.

ICH facilities that determine that they are not required to administer the 2026 ICH CAHPS Surveys and those that choose not to administer the surveys must complete and submit the 2026 Facility Non-Participation Form on the website.

ICH facilities should please note the following:

The Facility Non-Participation Form is an annual form that is valid only for the year in which it was submitted. ICH facilities that submitted the Facility Non-Participation Form in 2025 must submit the 2026 Facility Non-Participation Form if they do not plan to administer the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring and Fall Surveys.
Submission of the Facility Non-Participation Form only alerts the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team that the facility does not wish for a sample file to be provided to their authorized vendor for the current calendar year; it does not affect compliance, which is determined on an annual basis by the ESRD Quality Incentive Program (QIP) team.
Once the Facility Non-Participation Form is submitted, any existing vendor authorization for the submitted CCN(s) is removed from the ICH CAHPS website. This means that if at any point in the future the submitted CCN(s) wishes to participate in the ICH CAHPS Surveys, the designated ICH CAHPS Facility Survey Administrator will need to authorize a survey vendor for the CCN(s).
Facilities certified after December 31, 2025 are not required to complete and submit the online Facility Non-Participation Form, unless they are currently registered with an authorized vendor on the ICH CAHPS website.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team at 1-866-245-8083 or via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions or need more information about the Facility Non-Participation Form.

Only One Week before the Deadline to Authorize a Survey Vendor for the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey
Facility Participation RequirementsPosted February 20, 2026

This is a reminder that all in-center hemodialysis (ICH) facilities that are administering the ICH CAHPS Survey for the first time or are switching to a different ICH CAHPS Survey vendor to administer the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey must update their vendor authorization on the ICH CAHPS website by 5:00 PM Eastern Time on February 28, 2026. Please note you must update the online vendor authorization only if the following applies:

Your facility is participating in the ICH CAHPS Survey for the first time during the 2026 Spring Survey; OR
Your facility is switching to a different survey vendor to administer the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey; OR
Your facility entered the 2025 Fall Survey as the last survey period for which the vendor would administer the survey when you originally submitted the vendor authorization form.

If your organization will continue to use the same ICH CAHPS Survey vendor that was used to administer the 2025 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey, you do not need to update the online vendor authorization form.

If any of the above statements apply to your facility, you must update the online vendor authorization form for the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey on the ICH CAHPS website by the February 28, 2026 deadline. Please note that you must have a formal written contract with an approved ICH CAHPS Survey vendor before authorizing that vendor on the website.

ICH facilities that served 30 or more survey-eligible patients in calendar year 2025 must administer both the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring and Fall Surveys to be compliant with the CMS quality reporting requirements. If the online vendor authorization form is not updated by the deadline, a sample will not be provided to a survey vendor, which means the 2026 Spring Survey cannot be administered.

The steps for authorizing a vendor on the ICH CAHPS website are as follows:

Log in to the ICH CAHPS website here.
From your personal dashboard, click “Authorize a Vendor.” The system will then take you to the Authorize a Vendor page.
From the “Select Action” drop-down list on the Authorize a Vendor page:
- If authorizing a vendor for the first time on the website: Select the “Select a vendor for the first time” option.
- If changing/switching to a different vendor: Select the “Switch to a different vendor” option.
Select the name of your survey vendor from the vendor drop-down list.
Select the Beginning Survey Period for your new vendor. In this instance, you would select "2026 Spring Survey."
Do not enter an end date for your survey vendor unless you know that you will not be using this vendor for the 2026 Fall Survey.
Select the CCN(s) of the ICH facility (or facilities) to which the authorization applies.
Click the “Submit” button.

Please note the following:

No changes to vendor authorizations will be accepted for the 2026 Spring Survey after 5:00 PM Eastern Time on February 28, 2026.
If a facility has closed or will be closing and knows it will not be participating in the 2026 Spring Survey, please request that your survey vendor submit a Vendor Facility Closing Attestation Form on the ICH CAHPS website by this February 28, 2026 deadline. This will ensure that a sample file will not be provided to the vendor for the upcoming survey period. Vendors are encouraged to confirm with their facility contacts prior to this deadline that the facility is open and operating as expected.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team at 1–866–245–8083 or via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions.

Final ICH CAHPS Mail Surveys for the 2026 Spring Survey Now on Website
Changes to Survey MaterialsPosted February 16, 2026

Now that we have received OMB approval for the revised ICH CAHPS Survey, vendors were emailed the final mail surveys for the 2026 Spring Survey and the final 508-compliant versions have been posted on the ICH CAHPS Website’s Survey Materials Page.

The only change made to the mail surveys since the “DRAFT 2026 Spring Revised Mail Surveys” were posted on the website in September 2025, is the addition of the new OMB expiration date in the top right corner of the survey cover.

All updated ICH CAHPS Survey materials will be discussed during the ICH CAHPS Survey Vendor Update Training session on Wednesday, February 18, 2026.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions.

ICH CAHPS Survey Administration and Specifications Manual, Version 14.0
Changes to Protocols and GuidelinesPosted February 13, 2026

The In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS (ICH CAHPS) Survey Administration and Specifications Manual, Version 14.0 is now available on the ICH CAHPS website in PDF format. The protocols and guidelines described in Version 14.0 of this manual are effective immediately and supersede those described in previous versions of the manual.

Please note: At the end of Chapter 1 is a “What’s New or Different?” section, which contains a list of the chapters in the manual where the major changes in survey protocols and materials are described.

Updated ICH CAHPS Survey protocols and procedures will be reviewed during the ICH CAHPS Survey Vendor Update Training session that will take place on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. A training agenda and the presentation slides for those training sessions will also be posted on the ICH CAHPS website today, February 13, 2026.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org or call toll-free at 1-866-245-8083 if you have any questions.

Training Materials for the 2026 ICH CAHPS Survey Vendor Update Training Session are Available
Training InformationPosted February 13, 2026

The training materials that will be used during the ICH CAHPS Survey Vendor Update Training Session that will be held from 1:00 to 4:00 PM ET on February 18, 2026, are available on the ICH CAHPS website at the following link:

Training Materials (ichcahps.org)

Email messages containing instructions for connecting to the training session via Zoom started going out to all registered attendees on February 11, 2026. Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team at ichcahps@rti.org if anyone registered for your organization does not receive this email message by COB Monday, February 16, 2026.

Reminder of Upcoming Deadline for Submitting Facility-Specific Questions for the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey for Approval
Other AnnouncementsPosted January 30, 2026

This is a reminder that ICH CAHPS Survey vendors must submit all facility-specific questions that they plan to add to the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey to the Coordination Team for review and approval. If any of your ICH facility clients are planning to add any new facility-specific questions to the 2026 ICH CAHPS Spring Survey, please send those questions and their proposed placement to the Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org before 5:00 PM ET on February 6, 2026.

Please note that facility-specific questions that were approved by the Coordination Team for use in previous survey periods do not need to be approved again unless the question wording or response options have changed. If changes have been made, please submit the changes by the February 6^th deadline.

The Coordination Team will accept facility-specific questions for review after the February 6, 2026 deadline; however, approval of those questions may not be granted in time for the questions to be included in the 2026 Spring Survey. Survey vendors should work with their client ICH facilities to decide on the use of new facility-specific questions and submit the questions to the Coordination Team as soon as possible to avoid a delay in approval.

Please contact the Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org or by calling 1-888-245-8083 if you have any questions.

Updated ICH CAHPS Survey Materials for the 2026 Spring Survey Now on Website
Changes to Survey MaterialsPosted January 23, 2026

As was first announced and posted in December 2025 (Updated ICH CAHPS Survey Materials for the 2026 Spring Survey), the following ICH CAHPS Survey materials have been updated for the 2026 Spring Survey and have been posted on the ICH CAHPS Website’s Survey Materials Page:

Cover Letters 1 and 2 in English, Spanish, Samoan, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese (12 total letters)
Telephone Scripts in English and Spanish (2 scripts)
Waiting Room FAQs in English, Spanish, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Vietnamese (5 documents)
Telephone Interviewer Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in English and Spanish (2 documents)
OMB Disclosure Notice in English, Spanish, Samoan, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese (6 documents)
Survey Composites (1 document)

At this time, CMS believes that the revised ICH CAHPS Survey will receive OMB approval no later than mid-February. As a result, please note the following:

The revised mail surveys (in all approved languages) will not be posted on the ICH CAHPS website until the pending OMB changes (new OMB expiration date and possibly a new OMB number) have been confirmed. Once all OMB-related changes have been incorporated, vendors will be provided with the final version of the mail surveys and the final 508 compliant mail surveys will be posted on the website.
If the OMB number is required to be updated based on OMB approval, vendors will also be provided with a second/final version of Cover Letters 1 and 2.

Please note that the ICH CAHPS Survey XML data layout file is being revised for the 2026 Spring Survey to reflect all revisions made to the 2026 Spring mail surveys and telephone scripts. By May 2026, the ICH CAHPS Survey data submission tools (Schema Validation Tool and Data Submission Tool) will be updated to reflect the revised survey. Announcements will be posted on the website when the revised tools are available. All survey vendors must update their XML before the July 29, 2026 data submission deadline for the 2026 Spring Survey.

All updated ICH CAHPS Survey materials will be discussed during the ICH CAHPS Survey Vendor Update Training session on Wednesday, February 18, 2026. A training agenda and the presentation slides for this training session will be posted on the website by 5:00 PM ET on Friday, February 13, 2026.

Please contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org if you have any questions.

Reminder: Only One Week before the Data Submission Deadline for the 2025 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey
Data SubmissionsPosted January 21, 2026

The deadline for submitting data files from the 2025 ICH CAHPS Fall Survey to the Data Center is at 5:00 PM Eastern Time on Wednesday, January 28, 2026, which is 1 week from today. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will not accept any data files after that date and time.

We strongly encourage vendors who have not submitted an XML file for any of their facility clients to begin submitting as soon as possible. Remember that vendors must submit their data files in time to correct and re-submit any files that do not pass the validation checks.

Please feel free to contact the ICH CAHPS Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org or call 1-866-245-8083 if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

Information About the ICH CAHPS Survey Data on Your Care Compare Preview Reports for the April 2026 Refresh
Information for Dialysis FacilitiesPosted January 16, 2026

Dear ICH CAHPS Survey Facility Survey Administrators:

The In-Center Hemodialysis CAHPS (ICH CAHPS) Survey Coordination Team is sharing some information that may be helpful as dialysis facilities begin receiving their Quarterly Dialysis Facility Care Compare Preview Reports for the April 2026 Refresh.

ICH CAHPS Survey results can be found in Table 5 of your Preview Report (Patient Experience of Care based on ICH CAHPS). Survey results are publicly reported on Dialysis Facility Care Compare every April and October; although clinical measures are updated in January and June of each year, ICH CAHPS Survey data are only updated twice each year. Public reporting of ICH CAHPS Survey data is based on two consecutive survey periods, and a facility must have at least 30 completed surveys combined across those periods for results to be displayed. For example, for the April 2026 Refresh, a facility would need to have 30 completed surveys between the 2024 Fall and 2025 Spring Surveys for ICH CAHPS scores to be publicly reported. If a facility has fewer than 30 completed surveys or only participated in one survey period included in the refresh, ICH CAHPS scores will not appear on Care Compare (or your Preview Report) during that refresh.

Please note that while your survey vendor may provide internal survey results, these are not official and may differ from the final results posted on Dialysis Facility Care Compare. For more information on the public reporting of ICH CAHPS Survey results, we encourage you to review the ICH CAHPS Public Reporting FAQ available on the ICH CAHPS website: https://ichcahps.org/Public-Reporting/Public-Reporting-Frequently-Asked-Questions.

Please contact the Coordination Team via email at ichcahps@rti.org or call 1-866-245-8083 if you have any questions.

Regards,
The ICH CAHPS Coordination Team

Older