Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan CAHPS® Survey

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance

The 2024 Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan CAHPS Survey administration protocols are contained in the Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan CAHPS Survey Quality Assurance Protocols & Technical Specifications V14.1 (QAP&TS V14.1) manual.

View or download the Quality Assurance Protocols & Technical Specifications V14.1. (Updated 11/29/23)

MA & PDP CAHPS Technical Corrections and Clarifications

Subsequent to the production of the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Quality Assurance Protocols & Technical Specifications V14.0 (QAP&TS V14.0), it has been determined that there are specific items that require content corrections and clarifications. Revisions have been made to composite scoring for 2024 data, skip logic, the timing of inbound CATI protocol, and valid values for data coding. View or download the November 2023 version of the MA & PDP CAHPS Technical Corrections and Clarifications document.

MA & PDP CAHPS 5 Call Attempts Protocol Clarification

The MA & PDP CAHPS Survey project team has clarified the guidance regarding dialing multiple phone numbers and the 21 day rule for call attempts. The guidance has been revised to include a new example regarding the timing of attempts. 

View or download the 5 Call Attempts Protocol Clarification.

English MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey.

View or download the Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

Spanish Translation of the MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided a Spanish translation of the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey in Spanish. 

View or download the Spanish Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

Chinese Translation of the MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided a Chinese translation of the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey in Chinese. 

View or download the Chinese Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

Korean Translation of the MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided a Korean translation of the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey in Korean.

View or download the Korean Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

Tagalog Translation of the MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided a Tagalog translation of the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey in Tagalog.

View or download the Tagalog Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

Vietnamese Translation of the MA & PDP CAHPS QAP&TS V14.1 Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support (FAQs) Is Now Available

CMS has provided a Vietnamese translation of the FAQs for Customer Support for vendors administering the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey in Vietnamese.

View or download the Vietnamese Frequently Asked Questions for Customer Support.

2024 Data Collection Schedule

The basic tasks and timing for conducting the 2024 MA & PDP CAHPS Survey are summarized below. Survey vendors are required to adhere to the data collection schedule as outlined and may not depart from or modify this schedule in any way.

 Pre-Data Collection Tasks

Task

Date

Time Frame in Survey Field Period

Survey vendors must complete and email a Vendor Access to MA & PDP CAHPS Data Warehouse Form to MA-PDPCAHPSTECHSUPPORT@rand.org

11/9/2023

-111 days

Survey vendors must submit the English pre-notification letters and English web survey materials (emails, letters, survey screenshots) to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

11/21/2023

-99 days

Plan request for contract-level oversample (Authorized contract staff submit a web-based request in which they select the desired contract then enter the size of the requested oversample)

11/30/2023

-90 days

Plan must complete the web-based survey vendor authorization process to designate a survey vendor for each contract eligible for the 2024 MA & PDP CAHPS Survey

11/30/2023

-90 days

Survey vendors must submit any supplemental questions for approval

12/1/2023

-89 days

Survey vendors must submit the English cover letters, English mail surveys, and English MA-PD CATI screenshots, and test link to the web survey for the project team for review purposes

12/5/2023

-85 days

Survey vendors must submit Spanish (and Chinese, Korean, Tagalog, and Vietnamese, if applicable) pre-notification letters, web survey materials (emails, letters, survey screenshots), and mail survey materials to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

12/12/2023

-78 days

Survey vendors must complete and submit a new DUA or update existing DUA to CMS and provide a copy of the new or updated DUA to the MA & PDP CAHPS Technical Assistance email (MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com). Subcontractors that come into direct contact with an enrollee and/or data about or from an enrollee (e.g., name, address, telephone number) must also have a DUA Addendum in place with CMS.

1/2/2024

-57 days

Survey vendors must submit QAP to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

1/3/2024

-56 days

 

Data Collection Tasks

Survey Vendor Task

Date

Time Frame in Survey Field Period

Vendors download 2024 sample file

2/8/2024

-20 days

Mail out a pre-notification letter to all sampled members 

2/28/2024

day 1

Customer support telephone center opens (Toll-free number required) and customer support email is operational

2/29/2024

days 2-95

Mail out web invite letter to enrollees without an email address. Begin inbound computer assisted telephone interviews (CATI) protocol.

3/1/2024

day 3

Email web survey invitation (to enrollees with an email address)

3/4/2024

day 6

Email web survey reminder

3/7/2024

day 9

Mail-out of the first questionnaire with cover letter. 

3/12/2024 – 3/13/2024

days 14-15

Survey vendors must submit the first Vendor Report of Web and Mail Survey Activity & Returns to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com. Additional reports are due every two weeks after the first report until the end of data collection.

3/26/2024

day 28

Mail-out of second mailing of questionnaire with cover letter to all non-respondents

4/1/2024 – 4/2/2024

days 34-35

Submit interim data files with returned web, mail, and inbound CATI survey data to CMS (RAND). Survey vendors may begin to submit data on 4/23/2024 but must have an interim data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 4/25/2024. No interim submission of MMP data is required.

4/23/2024 – 4/25/2024

days 56-58

Initiate telephone follow-up by CATI for all non-respondents to the web or mail survey (First attempt must occur during this time)

4/24/2024 – 5/4/2024

days 57-67

Survey vendors must submit the first Vendor Report of Outbound CATI to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

5/6/2024

day 69

Submit interim data files with web, mail, and telephone survey data to CMS (RAND). Survey vendors may begin to submit data on 5/7/2024 but must have an interim data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 5/9/2024. No interim submission of MMP data is required.

5/7/2024 – 5/9/2024

 

days 70-72

Conduct additional telephone attempts by CATI according to the following specifications:

  • Call attempts must occur in three different calendar weeks
  • Call attempts must be scheduled at different times of the day and on different days of the week

The 5th call attempt must occur no sooner than 21 days after the 1st call attempt, if a 5th call attempt is necessary.

5/5/2024 – 6/1/2024

days 68-95

Survey vendors must submit the second Vendor Report of Outbound CATI to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

5/13/2024

day 76

Cutoff date to complete web surveys and for returned mail surveys

6/1/2024

day 95

Customer support toll-free line and customer support email close

6/1/2024

day 95

Outbound telephone interviewing ends

6/1/2024

day 95

Submit final MA & PDP CAHPS data files to CMS approximately two weeks after close of data collection via the Data Submission website provided by the RAND Corporation. Data can be submitted as early as 6/11/2024 but vendors must have a final data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 6/13/2024.

6/11/2024 – 6/13/2024

days 105-107

 

Vendors serving MMP contracts submit the data from the fixed set of national MMP supplemental items approximately three weeks after the close of data collection via the Data Submission website provided by the RAND Corporation. Data can be submitted as early as 6/18/2024 but vendors must have a final data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 6/20/2024.

6/18/2024 – 6/20/2024

days 112-114

 

 

This page was last modified on 2/27/2024