Medicare Advantage and Prescription Drug Plan CAHPS^® Survey

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

11/9/2022

-113 days

Survey vendors must submit the English pre-notification letter, mail survey materials, and English MA-PD CATI screenshots to the MA & PDP CAHPS Survey Project Team via MA-PDPCAHPS@hsag.com

11/22/2022

-100 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)

12/1/2022

-91 days

Plan must complete the web-based survey vendor authorization process to designate a survey vendor for each contract eligible for the 2023 MA & PDP CAHPS Survey

12/1/2022

-91 days

Survey vendors must submit any supplemental questions for approval

12/1/2022

-91 days

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

12/13/2022

-79 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.

1/3/2023

-58 days

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

1/3/2023

-58 days

Vendors download 2023 sample file

2/9/2023

-21 days

Mail out a pre-notification letter to all sampled members 

3/2/2023

day 1

Customer support telephone center opens (Toll-free number required)

3/3/2023

days 2-96

Mail-out of the first questionnaire with cover letter within one week of the pre-notification letter. Begin inbound CATI protocol.

3/6/2023 – 3/7/2023

days 5-6

Survey vendors must submit the first Vendor Report of 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.

3/21/2023

day 20

Mail-out of second mailing of questionnaire with cover letter to all non-respondents 30 days after first mailing

4/5/2023 – 4/6/2023

days 35-36

Submit interim data files with returned mail survey data to CMS (RAND). Survey vendors may begin to submit data on 4/25/2023 but must have an interim data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 4/27/2023. No interim submission of MMP data is required.

4/25/2023 - 4/27/2023

days 55-57

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

4/28/2023 – 5/8/2023

days 58-68

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

5/8/2023

day 68

Submit interim data files with mail and phone survey data to CMS (RAND). Survey vendors may begin to submit data on 5/9/2023 but must have an interim data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 5/11/2023. No interim submission of MMP data is required.

5/9/2023 – 5/11/2023

days 69-71

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

5/9/2023 – 6/5/2023

days 69-96

5/15/2023

day 75

Cutoff date for returned mail surveys

6/5/2023

day 96

Customer support toll-free line closes

6/5/2023

day 96

Outbound telephone interviewing ends

6/5/2023

day 96

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 6/13/2023 but vendors must have a final data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 6/15/2023.

6/13/2023 – 6/15/2023

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 6/20/2023 but vendors must have a final data file submitted, and deemed to be fully correct and accepted, by 6/22/2023.

6/20/2023 – 6/22/2023

days 111-113