The National Committee for Quality Assurance has launched its Distinction in Patient Experience Reporting program, which captures results from a new survey measuring patient and family satisfaction with their experiences at physician practices that have been recognized by the NCQA as patient-centered medical homes.

Public comments had been taken on the program during the spring, and the NCQA worked with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-sponsored CAHPS Consortium to develop a standardized medical-home version of a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems survey.

The survey addresses issues such as physician access, coordination and comprehensiveness of care, self-management support and shared decision-making.

The NCQA launched its patient-centered medical home program in December 2008, and it has recognized 2,710 practices as medical homes as of Aug. 31. The Distinction in Patient Experience Reporting program is meant as another layer of recognition for those practices.

“Because consumer experience is a critical component of quality of care, giving more prominence to patient engagement is a crucial change to the PCMH program,” an NCQA news release said.

In late January, the NCQA released revised standards for its medical home recognition program that were aimed at achieving higher levels of patient satisfaction and to align its requirements more closely with federal meaningful-use criteria for information technology implementation.