Measuring and Improving Patient Experience in the Safety Net

Introduction With the 2001 publication of the Institute of Medicine’s Crossing the Quality Chasm Report, patient-centered care emerged as one of six key components of high quality health care in the United States. Partly in response to that report, health care organizations across the country have focused on developing and improving patientand family-centered approaches to the care they provide. As part of this movement, significant public and private resources have been invested to develop and implement measures that evaluate patient experience of care (PEC) in various health care settings. One of these, the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) program, was funded by the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services to develop standardized surveys of patients’ experiences with ambulatory and inpatient care.