Welcome to the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) Website
The Medicare HOS was the first patient-reported outcomes measure used in Medicare managed care. The goal of the Medicare HOS program is to gather valid and reliable clinically meaningful data that have many uses, such as targeting quality improvement activities and resources; monitoring health plan performance and rewarding top-performing health plans; helping people with Medicare make informed health care choices; and advancing the science of functional health outcomes measurement. Managed care plans with Medicare Advantage (MA) contracts must participate.
Each year a random sample of people with Medicare is drawn and surveyed from each participating Medicare Advantage Organization (MAO) that has a minimum of 500 enrollees (i.e., a survey is administered to a different baseline cohort, or group, each year). Two years later, the baseline respondents are surveyed again (i.e., follow up measurement). Cohort 1 was surveyed in 1998 and was resurveyed in 2000. During the most recent HOS administration (2022 Round 25), Cohort 25 was surveyed and Cohort 23 was resurveyed using HOS 3.0. For data collection years 1998-2006, the standard MAO baseline sample size was one thousand. In 2007, the standard sample size was increased to twelve hundred. Since 2019, MAOs can request oversampling if the contract's enrollment permits a sample size larger than the standard sample of 1,200.
What's New on the Medicare HOS
- Memo on Staff Involvement in Medicare Health Outcomes Survey-Modified (HOS-M). The memo was released on March 13, 2023, detailing the extent to which HOS-M Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) staff and caregivers can participate in the HOS-M survey, and outlining permissible and non-permissible activities by program staff. The memo is posted under the Survey Administration section and may be accessed there.
- HOS 2023 Administration Memo and HOS Exclusion Memo. The memos were released on March 13, 2023 detailing the HOS plan reporting requirements, contracting with a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)-approved survey vendor, sampling process, survey administration, requirements for HOS reporting, and exclusion criteria for MAOs not participating in 2023. Both memos are posted under the Survey Administration section and may be accessed there.
- HOS-M 2023 Survey Administration Memo. The memo was released on February 27, 2023 detailing the HOS-M plan reporting requirements, contracting with a CMS-approved survey vendor, sampling process, survey administration, contracts required to report HOS-M, and administration changes in 2023. The memo is posted under the Survey Administration section and may be accessed there.
- HOS and HOS-M Fully Integrated Dual Eligible (FIDE) Special Needs Plan (SNP) Participation for Frailty Memo. The memo was released on February 6, 2023 detailing the application process and requirements for participation in the 2023 HOS and HOS-M to support the calculation of frailty scores for 2024 payments. The memo is posted under the Survey Administration section and may be accessed there.
- 2023 HOS and HOS-M Conditionally-Approved Survey Vendor Lists Available. Final approval of the survey vendors is contingent on successfully completing the survey vendor training in May 2023. The lists of conditionally-approved survey vendors have been posted under the HOS Survey Vendors and the HOS-M Survey Vendors sections.
- 2021 Cohort 24 Baseline Public Use File (PUF) and Data Users Guide (DUG) Available. The PUF may be downloaded from the Research Data Files section on the Data page. The corresponding DUG may be downloaded from the Data Users Guides section.
- 2021 HOS-M Data Available. The HOS-M data and DUG are available for plans to request, as CMS announced to Health Plan Management System (HPMS) users on November 4, 2022. Participating PACE organizations may obtain their data by contacting Medicare HOS Information and Technical Support at hos@hsag.com. The DUG may also be downloaded from the HOS-Modified page.
- 2021 HOS-M Reports Available. The HOS-M Reports are also available to participating PACE organizations via HPMS. Plans may contact their CMS Quality Point of Contact to obtain access to the HOS-M reports. A Sample PACE Report with actual national HOS-M data may be found on the Publications and Resources page.
- 2021 Cohort 24 Baseline Reports Available. These reports are available to participating MAOs via HPMS. MAOs may contact their CMS Quality Point of Contact to obtain access to the HOS reports and the contract-level summary data. If assistance is required regarding HPMS access, MAOs may contact CMS at hpms_access@cms.hhs.gov. A Sample Baseline Report with actual national HOS data may be found on the Publications and Resources page.
- 2019-2021 Cohort 22 Analytic PUF and DUG Available. The PUF may be downloaded from the Research Data Files section on the Data page. The DUG may be downloaded from the Data Users Guides section.
- Reporting Requirements for Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) Measurement Year (MY) 2022, HOS, and CAHPS® Measures, and Information Regarding HOS and HOS-M for Frailty. This HPMS memo was released on May 18, 2022. The memo provides information about the HEDIS, HOS, and CAHPS reporting requirements in 2023 and the timing of HOS and HOS-M survey administration. An update on the release schedule for information on using the HOS and HOS-M for FIDE SNP frailty measurement is also included in the memo.
- Medicare HOS Outcomes Measures Moved to Display for 2022 and 2023 Star Ratings. This HPMS memo was released on August 5, 2021 by CMS. The memo states that the two HOS outcomes measures, Improving or Maintaining Physical Health and Improving or Maintaining Mental Health, will be moved to the display page on CMS.gov for the 2022 and 2023 Star Ratings. Due to the pervasive way in which the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency has impacted and will continue to impact the validity of these two HOS outcomes measures for the 2020 and 2021 follow-up measurement periods, the 2022 and 2023 Star Ratings will be calculated without the use of Improving or Maintaining Physical Health and Improving or Maintaining Mental Health.
For additional information about the availability of auxiliary aids and services, please visit the CMS Accessibility & Nondiscrimination for Individuals with Disabilities Notice.
This page was last modified on 05/17/2023
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