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Abstract #152192

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Sonya E. Bowen, MSW, Samuel C. Haffer, PhD, and William Long, BS. Office of Research, Development, & Information, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, 7500 Security Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21244, 410-786-5609, sonya.bowen@cms.hhs.gov

The Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (MMA 2003) required the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to collect, analyze, and report data that permit the measurement of health outcomes and other quality indicators in Medicare managed care plans. The Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) (originally called the Health of Seniors Survey) was chosen to meet this requirement, since it was developed as a longitudinal performance measure to assess the physical functioning and mental well-being of Medicare beneficiaries.

HOS is the first national measure of patient-reported outcomes in Medicare, and has been fielded annually since May 1998. It has a longitudinal, self-administered, cohort design. HOS v2.0 contains three major components, the Veterans 12-Item Health Survey (VR-12), questions to gather information for case-mix, and additional health questions. Over 2 million Medicare beneficiaries have participated in the HOS, including the aged and disabled. Response rates above 65% have consistently been achieved.

HOS results are used to measure and promote quality improvement in Medicare Advantage plans, to monitor, assess, and reward desired health plan performance, to calculate a frailty adjustor to be used in rate-setting for certain MA organizations, and to promote and advance the state-of-the-science in health outcomes measurement.

A representative from CMS will present an overview of the Medicare HOS, review the goals of the program, and explain how researchers and quality improvement professionals are using the data to explore functional status measurement issues, describe policy and programmatic implications, and identify opportunities to improve health care practice.

Learning Objectives: Learning Objectives

• Understand the history of the Medicare HOS
• Describe the Medicare HOS questionnaire and methodology 3.Explain how HOS data are being used to impact health policy and practice

Keywords: Medicare, Managed Care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Any relevant financial relationships? No
Any institutionally-contracted trials related to this submission?

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

• Slides (pdf) or Handout
• Multimedia recording