The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced it will conduct its second annual provider satisfaction survey of Medicare fee-for-service contractors who process and pay more than $280 billion in Medicare claims each year.
The results of the first Medicare Contractor Provider Satisfaction Survey (MCPSS), released in September 2006, showed that the vast majority of Medicare health care providers are satisfied with the customer service, claims processing and educational activities provided by these contractors.
The survey focuses on seven major parts of the provider-contractor relationship -- provider communications, provider inquiries, 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 1 to 6 with “1” representing “not at all satisfied” and “6” representing “completely satisfied.” In 2006, 85 percent of respondents rated their contractors between 4 and 6.
“Provider feedback is crucial for CMS to ensure its contractors are providing good, quality service to providers,” said CMS Acting Administrator Leslie Norwalk. “While the 2006 results generally showed that providers think contractors are performing well, we look forward to using survey data gathered each year to support claims processing improvements by contractors.”
CMS will send the survey to about 35,000 randomly selected providers, including physicians and other health care practitioners, suppliers and institutional facilities that serve Medicare beneficiaries across the country. Those providers selected to participate in the survey will be notified by mail during the first week of January 2007. The survey is designed so that it can be completed in about 15 minutes and providers can submit their responses via a secure Web site, mail, fax or over the telephone. CMS will ask providers to respond by February 2007.
“Measuring provider satisfaction is a key component of our efforts to reform the Medicare program,” Norwalk said. “We are urging all providers who are part of the 2007 sample to respond, as each one is representative of many other organizations that are similar in size, practice type and geographical location.”
The MCPSS was developed with extensive input from providers. Information about the survey will be disseminated to providers through a variety of channels, including Open Door Forum conference calls and Medicare Learning Network (MLN) Matters articles posted on the CMS Web site throughout the survey process.
MS plans to make the survey results available in July 2007. Further information about the MCPSS is available at www.cms.hhs.gov/MCPSS.