Response to Comment Document

CMS Responses to Public Comments Received for the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) COVID-19 Rapid Response Supplement - CMS-P-0015A

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) received three comments related to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) COVID-19 Rapid Response Supplement information collection request. This is the reconciliation of those comments.

Comment:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) received two similar comments from the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) and the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD) requesting that CMS capture the use of audio-only telehealth.

Response:

CMS appreciates the suggestion and interest in measuring the use of audio-only telehealth provider visits among Medicare beneficiaries. To clarify that existing telehealth items in the MCBS Fall COVID-19 Community Supplement (Attachment 2) ask about audio-only appointments, interviewer instructions have been added throughout the telehealth series. On-screen help text has also been added to instruct interviewers on how to code audio-only appointments at telehealth follow-up items. Addressing these comments by adding interviewer instructions and on-screen help text does not change the respondent burden.

Comment:

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) received a comment from the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) requesting that the MCBS Fall COVID-19 Community Supplement (Attachment 2) and MCBS Fall COVID-19 Facility Supplement (Attachment 3) consistently use the phrase ‘doctor or other health professional’ to refer to medical providers.

Response:

CMS appreciates the suggestion and has updated provider references for uniformity across all questions, prompts, and responses in both questionnaires. Addressing this comment by making these terminology changes does not change the respondent burden.