The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule final rule that includes regulatory changes to the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP).  

For Performance Year (PY) 2020, CMS finalized the proposal to waive the requirement for Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs) to field a Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) for ACOs survey patient experience of care surveys. ACOs will receive automatic full credit for the patient experience of care measures.  

This change is due to the COVID-19 pandemic.  

The ACO CAHPS survey is used by ACOs participating in the MSSP and Next Generation ACO Model. It is intended to measure the patient’s experience with their primary physician within the ACO and asks questions related to the patient experience.   

The survey asks patients to recall their care experience from the past six months. 

For more information, please refer to the CMS 2021 Final Rule: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Medicare-Fee-for-Service-Payment/sharedsavingsprogram/news.