Medicare HOS Survey

Since 1998, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has contracted with HSAG on its nationwide Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) for participating Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs). The goal of the Medicare HOS program is to gather valid and reliable health status data in Medicare managed care for use in quality improvement activities, public reporting, MAO accountability, as well as for improving health outcomes.

Collected since 1998, the Medicare HOS is the only patient-reported outcomes measure in Medicare managed care, and therefore, remains a critical part of assessing MAO quality. The HOS design is based on a randomly selected sample of individuals from each participating MAO, and measures their physical and mental health over a two-year period. The HOS instrument is an assessment of an MAO’s ability to maintain or improve the physical and mental health functioning of its Medicare beneficiaries over the two-year interval. In addition, CMS includes the HOS results as one of the components of its performance assessment program.

In support of the Medicare HOS Program, HSAG has been responsible for conducting a wide variety of tasks inlcuding:

• Conducting data cleaning and analysis activities to produce MAO-specific reports and data sets.
• Producing public use files and data user guides.
• Conducting ongoing research pertinent to the presentation and publication of HOS findings.
• Providing technical assistance for participating MAOs.
• Developing and maintaining the program Web site.

For its work, HSAG received a Certificate of Appreciation from CMS for "Sustained high quality performance in data analysis, report development and generation, technical support and presentation of a variety of Medicare HOS products . . . without jeopardizing time-sensitive, contractual obligations." This certificate recognizes the level of integrity and commitment to quality that HSAG has brought to the Medicare HOS program.

CMS is committed to monitoring the quality of care provided by MAOs. The HOS results continue to be an important part of CMS’ quality improvement activities.

For more information, please visit:http://www.hosonline.org.