The California Consumer Assessment Survey was derived from the Physician Value Check Survey, previously conducted by the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) in 1996 and 1998, and the Consumer Assessment of Health Plans Survey, which was developed by the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).

Built upon the best of those two surveys, this survey measured patient perceptions of their experiences receiving care from the doctors in their medical groups, addressing issues such as access to routine, urgent, and specialty care; doctor-patient communication; counseling on key preventive care topics; and overall ratings of care.

The design of the 2001 California Consumer Assessment Survey (CAS) instrument was underwritten in large part by the California HealthCare Foundation and produced as a joint effort by RAND Health, PBGH, and the CAHPS Consortium (a team of experts funded by AHRQ). PBGH, in collaboration with the California Cooperative HealthCare Reporting Initiative (CCHRI), fielded the survey in 59 California medical groups in March 2001. Adult patients were asked to rate the care and service provided by their medical group and its doctors and other staff during calendar year 2000.