CMS-10068.Supporting Statement - Part B

Supporting Statement – Part B

Collections of Information Employing Statistical Methods

1. This survey was created to obtain information from a sample of 65+ year-olds both of American and Hispanic descent regarding their opinions about the service(s) the DMOA provided. The DMOA receives nearly 400,000+ inquiries per year of which nearly 15% are handled in-house. Specifically for this survey, the sample will be approximately 560 persons per quarter. The annual sampling scheme has been selected to provide a sample estimate of the population proportion that has a 95% confidence range. Previous similar surveys conducted by the DMOA during FY 2004-2005 and during FY 2007-2008 resulted in a 46% and 56% response rate.

2. A mail survey of persons 65 years of age and older will be conducted quarterly. The sample will consist of both English and Spanish speaking persons. To fulfill the purpose of the justification, the degree of accuracy expected is of previous years’ response rates as noted in above.

3. CMS sponsorship of the data collection added credibility and importance to the survey request. There is also a telephone number listed on the survey for respondents to call and verify the legitimacy of the survey. The survey is conducted in “real time;” meaning the survey is being mailed out directly with responses creating a fast turnaround for responses and collection of data. The survey also includes a postage paid return envelope that will also increase the response rate. The survey is very short and does not require a lot of time for completion.

4. A pretest of the initial survey instrument was conducted both in English and Spanish to determine if the instrument yielded the expected results found in the sampling plan. The sample for each data set was nine respondents. See OMB 0938-0894

5. Mr. R. Clifton Bailey, Jing Xing Technologies, Inc served as the Sampling Statistician and developed the Assessment of the DMOA’s Customer Service for Written Correspondence Survey.

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