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Survey Administration

The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) administers the Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) in partnership with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Memos informing survey vendors and Medicare Advantage Organizations (MAOs) of survey administration requirements will be posted here as they are made available. Pertinent documents for the current and past survey administration year are included below.

• HOS 2024 Survey Administration Plan Memo outlines the MAO survey vendor selection process, MAO reporting requirements, optional reporting, and contains a list of MAOs that are required to participate in HOS during the upcoming survey administration.
• HOS 2024 Exclusion Memo gives specific requirements for MAO exclusion in HOS reporting and a list of MAOs that are excluded during the upcoming survey administration.
• Health Outcomes Survey-Modified (HOS-M) 2024 Survey Administration Memo outlines the HOS-M plan reporting requirements, survey vendor selection, survey administration, sampling process, and list of plans that are required to administer HOS-M during the upcoming survey administration.
• Memo on Staff Involvement in Medicare HOS-M details 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 outlines permissible and non-permissible activities by program staff.
• Fully Integrated Dual Eligible (FIDE) Special Needs Plan (SNP) 2023 Survey Participation Memo outlines the automated application process for MAOs and PACE plans who wish to sponsor FIDE SNPs in the upcoming HOS or HOS-M for the purpose of frailty payment considerations. It clarifies the plan reporting requirements, optional reporting protocol, and sampling process during the upcoming 2023 survey administration.
• HOS 2023 Survey Vendor Training Slides introduce the HOS and provide a historical overview, survey measures, and protocols, including specifications, decision rules, data coding and submission, and quality oversight requirements for the current year survey fielding.
• HOS-M 2023 Vendor Training Slides introduce the HOS-M and provide a historical overview, survey measures, and PACE and FIDE SNP protocols, including specifications, decision rules, data coding and submission, and quality oversight requirements for the current year survey fielding.

Quality Assurance Guidelines and Technical Specifications (QAG) Manuals for Download
NCQA annually publishes the HOS QAG. The QAG details the requirements, protocols, and procedures for the HOS administration that help to standardize the data collection process across the CMS-approved HOS survey vendors.  

The HOS QAGs are available for download in PDF format below:

An Addendum to the 2020 HOS Quality Assurance Guidelines and Technical Specifications V2.4 was released in July 2020.

An Addendum to the 2019 HOS Quality Assurance Guidelines and Technical Specifications V2.3 was released in February 2019.

An Addendum to the 2018 HOS Quality Assurance Guidelines and Technical Specifications V2.2 was released in June 2018. 

Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) Volume 6 Manuals

HEDIS® Volume 6: Specifications for the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey is the operational manual for survey vendors on implementing HOS and HOS-M. Its contents include a review of each survey’s history and administration protocols, the survey instrument and mailing materials, and a description of how the HOS measures are calculated.

The most recent HEDIS Volume 6 manuals are available at no cost from the NCQA Store (https://store.ncqa.org/hedis-quality-measurement/hedis-specifications-for-the-medicare-health-outcomes-survey.html). Copies of older HEDIS publications may be obtained by calling NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585. The HOS and HOS-M survey instruments can be downloaded from NCQA's website (www.ncqa.org/hedis/measures/hos).

This page was last modified on 03/20/2024