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To better understand patient experiences with inpatient maternal care, AHRQ’s Yale CAHPS® team is developing a comprehensive maternal health care survey, focusing on aspects of care that matter most to maternity care patients in hospitals and birthing centers. This initiative aims to ensure that maternal care services are aligned with patient needs and priorities, ultimately improving the quality and safety of care provided. Development of the CAHPS Inpatient Maternal Health Care Survey will follow the standard CAHPS survey development process.

Key Steps in the Survey Development Process

The team anticipates that the CAHPS Maternal Health Care Survey will be released in 2027.

Findings from Focus Groups

• Patients described care from two sets of teams: (1) labor and delivery, and (2) postpartum care. Participants often described these two sets of teams as having different skills, observing that postpartum care teams tended to focus more on care for the newborn than for the mothers themselves.
• Need for questions about postpartum care: While the Hospital Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) survey questions are sufficient for measuring nurse communication during labor and delivery, the team found that there is a need for more specialized questions that ask patients about their experiences with postpartum nursing care.
• Patient priorities: Focus group participants outlined several priorities about subjects that they consider important, including:
  • Communication with doctors and nurses in labor and delivery and postpartum.
  • Avoiding harm during the delivery and postpartum care.
  • Feeling supported and heard.
  • Respect for mothers’ concerns and questions.
  • Shared decision making.
  • Presence of family members or support persons during birth.
  • Addressing postpartum healthcare needs in conjunction with care for the infant.
  • Awareness of desired birthing plans, especially for first-time mothers.
  • Providing information about pain management.

Table 1. Expert Panel Members

Technical Assistance

For any questions or comments related to the development of the Maternal Health Survey, contact CAHPS1@westat.com with the subject line “Maternal Health Survey.”