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 2021 and 2022 survey administration years are included below.
Quality Assurance Guidelines (QAGs) for DownloadNCQA annually publishes the HOS Quality Assurance Guidelines and Technical Specifications (QAG) manual. 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 the survey’s history and administration protocols, the survey instrument and mailing materials, and a description of how the HOS measures are calculated.
The HEDIS® Volume 6: Specifications for the Medicare Health Outcomes Survey manuals are no longer available on this website. The most recent manuals (HEDIS 2016 Volume 6 – HEDIS MY 2020 Volume 6) 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 editions of HEDIS® Volume 6 may be obtained from NCQA by calling NCQA Customer Support at (888) 275-7585.
This page was last modified on 03/23/2022