Annual SMP/SHIP National Training Conference Survey

The Office of Healthcare Information and Counseling (OHIC) within the Administration for Community Living (ACL) hosts an annual national training conference for the federally funded programs that it administers. The audience for this training conference includes attendees from State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) and Senior Medicare Patrol (SMP) programs, which are two nationally recognized programs that provide Medicare information and counseling to Medicare beneficiaries and help, fight Medicare fraud through prevention and education. Grantee leadership is required to attend this training annually to ensure they receive critical information and technical assistance needed to help them successfully meet the requirements of their grant awards. Grantees are encouraged to bring up to three (3) people from each program. Programs operate in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Section 4360(f) of OBRA 1990 created the State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) and requires the Secretary to support a national network of grantees to provide outreach and assistance to Medicare beneficiaries. In addition, under Public Law 104-208, the Omnibus Consolidated Appropriations Act of 1997, Congress established the Senior Medicare Patrol Projects in order to further curb losses to the Medicare program. The Senate Committee noted that retired professionals, with appropriate training, could serve as educators and resources to assist Medicare beneficiaries and others to detect and report error, fraud and abuse. This tool provides ACL an opportunity to assess the success and impact of the training provided to the SHIP and SMP grantees by ACL along with determining the future training needs of the program grantees. Section 301 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. § 241) is the authorizing law for data collections within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Specifically, agencies within HHS should “collect and make available through publications and other appropriate means…research and other activities.” The March 3, 1998, White House Memorandum, “Conducting Conversations with America to Further Improve Customer Service,” directs agencies “to track customer service measurements, then take necessary actions to change or improve how the agency operates, as appropriate. Integrate what your agency learns from its customers with your agency's strategic plans, operating plans, and performance measures required by the Government Performance and Results Act of 1993, reporting on financial and program performance under the Chief Financial Officers Act of 1990, and the Government Management Reform Act of 1994.” The information collected in this survey is necessary to ensure that ACL is meeting the technical assistance needs of the attendees and to capture valuable feedback to be used for future training meetings. By gathering feedback on the quality of the training and content provided, we can ensure attendee satisfaction and gather information for future planning. ACL administers a contract to develop and provide the training conference evaluation tool for ACL’s approval.

The latest form for Annual SMP/SHIP National Training Conference Survey expires 2026-09-30 and can be found here.