Provider Types Affected

All Medicare physicians, providers, and suppliers billing the Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) program who were selected to participate in the MCPSS for 2008

Provider Action Needed

Those Medicare providers who were selected by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to participate in the MCPSS are asked to please take the time to complete the survey or respond to the survey contractor, Westat, follow-up calls. The survey is designed so that it can be completed in 15 minutes and responses may be submitted via a secure Web site, mail, fax or over the telephone. Currently the average response rate is 32 percent; CMS’ goal is to reach a 65 percent response rate. Data collection ends in April.

Background

The MCPSS offers providers the opportunity to contribute directly to CMS’ understanding of contractor performance as well as aid future process improvement efforts of Medicare contractors (carriers, fiscal intermediaries, Medicare Administrative Contractors, (A/B MAC), and Durable Medical Equipment Medicare Administrative Contractors (DME MAC). Specifically, the survey is used by CMS as an additional measure to evaluate contractor performance. In fact, all Medicare Administrative Contractors (MAC) will be required to achieve performance targets on the MCPSS as part of their contract requirements by 2009.

The MCPSS is designed to gather quantifiable data on provider satisfaction levels with the key services that comprise the provider-contractor relationship. The survey focuses on seven major parts of the relationship: provider inquiries, provider outreach and education, claims processing, appeals, provider enrollment, medical review, and provider audit and reimbursement.

Respondents are asked to rate their experience working with contractors using a scale of one to six with “1” representing “not at all satisfied” and “6” representing “completely satisfied.” The results of the second MCPSS showed that 85 percent of respondents rated their contractors between four and six.

The 2007 MCPSS results indicate that the provider inquiry function has the greatest influence on whether providers are satisfied with their contractors. This indicated a shift from 2006, when the claims processing function was the strongest predictor of a provider’s overall satisfaction.

“CMS and the Medicare contractor community are committed to high quality relationships with the provider community,” CMS Acting Administrator Kerry Weems said in a recent CMS press release. “The MCPSS provides contractors with greater insight into their provider communities, and allows them to make process improvements based on provider feedback.”

“The shift from claims processing to provider inquiries as the top predictor of satisfaction is a perfect example of the type of trend data the MCPSS will reveal,” Weems said. “Contractors are able to factor this insight into how they prioritize their provider-focused efforts.”

Additional Information

To review the complete report of the second MCPSS refer to: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mcpss/downloads/mcpss_report.pdf on the CMS Web site. To review a summary of the 2007 MCPSS refer to http://www.cms.hhs.gov/mlnmattersarticles/downloads/se0733.pdf on the CMS Web site. CMS plans to make the survey results publicly available in July 2008. Further information about the MCPSS is available at http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MCPSS on the CMS Web site.

Disclaimer This article was prepared as a service to the public and is not intended to grant rights or impose obligations. This article may contain references or links to statutes, regulations, or other policy materials. The information provided is only intended to be a general summary. It is not intended to take the place of either the written law or regulations. We encourage readers to review the specific statutes, regulations and other interpretive materials for a full and accurate statement of their contents.