What Hospice CAHPS Scores Can Tell You About Staff Training Gaps
Learn how to use CAHPS results proactively to identify areas where your clinicians might need more training and support. Plus, download a free Signal-to-Training checklist to connect common CAHPS signals to potential confidence and training gaps, education topics, and course recommendations.
June 30, 2026
6 min. read
Hospice CAHPS scores are often viewed as organizational quality metrics, but they can also reveal something else: where your staff might need more support and preparation.
Many hospice clinicians feel confident delivering clinical care. However, hospice-specific skills such as compassionate family communication, caregiver education, interdisciplinary coordination, and spiritual care can be more challenging to develop. These soft skills are important for clinicians to master as they help shape the family end-of-life experience and influence Hospice CAHPS outcomes.
Why Family Experience Carries So Much Weight in Hospice CAHPS
Hospice CAHPS offers a window into how families experienced the care journey. It captures whether they felt informed, supported, prepared for their caregiving role, and confident in the guidance they received from the hospice team.
Those experiences don't always align perfectly with the quality of care being delivered. A team might provide excellent clinical care, yet families might still feel uncertain about what to expect, unprepared for the realities of caregiving, or unsupported during difficult moments.
For hospice leaders, that's where CAHPS data becomes especially valuable. Family feedback can highlight opportunities to strengthen communication, caregiver education, and other skills that contribute to the overall care experience.
Clinical Confidence Doesn't Always Translate to Hospice Confidence
Hospice requires more than clinical skill alone. A 2020 study published in BMC Palliative Care found that nurses were highly confident in pain and symptom management but reported greater educational needs in areas such as communication, coordination, spiritual care, and resource management. More recent research suggests that experience and training in palliative care continue to play an important role in developing competence in spiritual and psychosocial aspects of care. 1, 2, 3
These findings are important because many hospice clinicians enter the field from other care settings. While they often bring strong clinical experience, hospice has different goals for care and presents unique challenges that require specialized preparation. Supporting caregivers, facilitating difficult conversations, navigating grief, coordinating care across disciplines, and addressing emotional and spiritual concerns all require a different set of skills.
Most clinicians have the foundation they need to succeed. The key is providing the right training that helps them build confidence in complex situations. When clinicians receive hospice-specific education and ongoing support, they are often better prepared to navigate the complex interpersonal and emotional situations that arise every day.
What Low CAHPS Scores Might Be Signaling
In some cases, lower CAHPS scores might point to opportunities for additional education and support. Families often pick up on uncertainty, discomfort, or rushed communication. Even highly compassionate clinicians can struggle if they haven’t been adequately prepared for the communication and support aspects of hospice care.
For example, lower scores related to caregiver education might suggest that staff need more training in coaching families, setting expectations, understanding patient and family perceptions, or preparing caregivers for what lies ahead. Concerns around emotional support might indicate a need for stronger preparation in grief support, family dynamics, spiritual care, or difficult conversations.
Training Opportunities Hidden Inside CAHPS Data
Hospice organizations can use CAHPS results proactively instead of reactively. Rather than focusing solely on scores, leaders can look for patterns that reveal where clinicians might need additional support. Repeated concerns can highlight opportunities for targeted education.
These might include:
Family communication
Families often remember how information was delivered as much as the information itself. Training can help clinicians navigate difficult conversations, set expectations clearly, and communicate with confidence during emotionally charged situations.
Care partner coaching and education
Many family care partners are suddenly asked to take on complex responsibilities with little prior experience at a time when they’re already navigating difficult emotions. Education focused on care partner preparation can provide clinicians with clearer guidance, answer questions effectively, and help families feel more confident caring for their loved one.
Interdisciplinary coordination
Hospice care is interdisciplinary and relies on collaboration across the hospice team. Training can help team members understand their roles, communicate more effectively with colleagues, and create a more seamless experience for patients and families.
Spiritual care
Families often face questions about meaning, grief, and emotional well-being during end-of-life care. While clinicians are not expected to have all the answers, training can help them feel more comfortable recognizing spiritual needs, responding appropriately, and connecting families with available resources.
Staff stress management and emotional resilience
Supporting patients and families through end-of-life care can be emotionally demanding. Education that addresses stress management, resilience, and self-care can help clinicians sustain their well-being while continuing to provide compassionate care.
When organizations use CAHPS data to guide training priorities, they can better align educational efforts with the experiences families are reporting.
Download the CAHPS Signal-to-Training Checklist
We created a free CAHPS Signal-to-Training Checklist to help hospice leaders connect common family experience concerns with targeted education opportunities. The checklist encourages organizations to look at what families might be telling them about communication, caregiver preparation, emotional support, and other areas that shape the hospice experience.
The checklist is organized around a simple framework:
● CAHPS signal
● Possible confidence or training gap
● Recommended training focus
Download the checklist below to explore potential connections between family experience feedback and staff development opportunities.
Hospice CAHPS Signal-to-Training Checklist
Enjoy your free resource!
How Medbridge Helps
The Medbridge Hospice Solution helps organizations develop clinician confidence and competence through hospice-specific onboarding, continuing education, competency management, and point-of-care tools. New hires can build a strong foundation in hospice care, while experienced staff continue developing the communication, clinical, and caregiving skills needed to support patients and families.
By supporting learning throughout the clinician journey, Medbridge helps hospice organizations create a more prepared workforce and deliver more consistent, family-centered care.
Better-Supported Clinicians Create Better Family Experiences
Hospice CAHPS scores can help organizations identify where staff need more support. Confidence in hospice care comes from preparation, practice, and hospice-specific education. Soft skills are essential, learnable, and can be strengthened over time. When organizations invest in clinician confidence, they’re also investing in the family experience.
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