CMS has fielded the MA (Consumer Assessment of Health Care Providers and Systems) CAHPS Survey annually since 1998, the Medicare FFS CAHPS Survey annually since 2000, and the MA DP and Stand Alone PDP CAHPS survey annually since 2006. The Medicare CAHPS is a national survey of health and prescription drug plans conducted at the contract level for MA, MA PD and Stand Alone PDP plans and at the state level for Medicare fee-for-service. Medicare CAHPS provides data to permit preparation of plan performance measures to assist Medicare beneficiaries in their selection of a health and/or prescription drug plan and help policymakers and others assist the Medicare program and Medicare plans design and monitor patient-centered quality improvement initiatives. The 2009 Call letter for MA and MA PD plans requires these plans to contract with private vendors from a list selected by CMS to conduct the 2011 Medicare CAHPS survey for their plan at the contract level and provide the collected data to CMS for analyses and preparation of CAHPS measures for use in consumer and plan reports and for quality improvement purposes for MA, MA PD, and Stand Alone PDP plans. CMS will continue to collect the Medicare FFS CAHPS data from surveys at the state and some sub-state levels.
The burden of this requirement is the time and effort necessary for sample members to complete the CAHPS Survey. The average time to complete the CAHPS survey remains about 20 minutes. This time varies somewhat by survey type as sample members are asked questions related to the type of health or prescription drug plan for which they were sampled. Sample members in Medicare plans without prescription drug benefits are not asked questions about their prescription drug experiences and those enrolled in PDPs are not asked questions about their health care experiences. The total survey burden to all 566,700 sampled beneficiaries therefore for is 208,680 hours, virtually the same number of burden hours that OMB approved for the CAHPS survey in 2007.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that the collection of information encompassed by this request complies with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR 1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding the proposed collection of information, that the certification covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
Non_responseChapter2008TechSHORT.docx
REV_ MA FFS PDP CAHPS OMB SUPPORTING STATEMENT A 10_25_2010 .doc
Medicare Advantage and Medicare Fee-For-Service CAHPS Survey: MA Survey (CMS-R-246)