Associations between CAHPS scores of patient care experiences and breast cancer survival among senior female survivors:a SEER-CAHPS analysis

This study examined potential disparities in Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) scores of patient care experiences among racial/ethnic minority survivors and breast cancer-specific mortality. Female breast cancer survivors who completed a CAHPS survey between 2000 and 2019 after being diagnosed with first primary invasive breast cancer were selected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-CAHPS data linkage. Adjusted Fine-Gray subdistribution hazards models were used to determine associations of CAHPS scores of patient care experiences with breast cancer-specific mortality, overall and stratified by race/ethnicity. Most survivors were NHW women (80.4 percent). Adjusted associations between CAHPS scores and breast cancer mortality were not significant. However, Hispanic survivors reporting higher Physician Rating scores were less likely to experience breast cancer death (HR = 0.985, 95 percent CI = 0.970-1.000, <i>p</i> = .046). The only interaction found to be significant was observed among other/multi-racial groups and Getting Care Quickly (<i>p</i> = .044). Patient care experience scores were not associated with breast cancer-specific mortality among older breast cancer survivors; some associations were found to be significant among certain racial/ethnic groups. Future research should capture care experiences from historically underrepresented populations.