In the CAHPS Health Plan Survey chartbook for 2008 (from the AHRQ in HHS) there is a chart for “How often did the health plan’s customer service staff treat consumers with courtesy and respect.”(image of chart, complete report here) For the medicare responses, the “always” went from 60% in 2007 to 74% in 2008 and “never-sometimes” went form 17% in 2007 to 7% in 2008. Medicaid and commercial care did not change more than 3% in any direction.
My question is, did something change (new program, reimbursement change, hours on duty etc.) or was it just an aberration in the data?