The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) began the national implementation of the In-Center Hemodialysis Consumer of Healthcare Providers and Systems (ICH CAHPS) Survey in 2014. The national implementation is conducted on a semiannual basis, each Spring and Fall. For each semiannual survey, CMS selects a sample of patients 18 years old and older who have received hemodialysis from their current ICH facility for 3 months or longer to be surveyed.

Because it is important that the survey be administered in the same way using the same protocols by all survey vendors, for the national implementation, CMS requires that:

• ICH facilities contract with an independent third-party survey vendor that has been approved and trained by CMS; and
• all approved ICH CAHPS Survey vendors use ICH CAHPS Survey administration specifications developed by CMS. The ICH CAHPS Survey Administration and Specifications Manual is available here.