WASHINGTON, Dec. 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Centers for Medicare

& Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced it has begun its third annual

provider satisfaction survey of Medicare fee-for-service contractors who

process and pay more than $280 billion in Medicare claims each year.

The Medicare Contractor Provider Satisfaction Survey (MCPSS) offers

providers the opportunity to contribute directly to CMS' understanding of

contractor performance as well as aid future process improvement efforts at

the contractor level. Specifically, the survey is used by CMS as an

additional measure to evaluate contractor performance. In fact, all

Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will be required to achieve

performance targets on the MCPSS as part of their contract requirements by

2009.

  "CMS and the Medicare contractor community are committed to high

quality relationships with the provider community," CMS Acting

Administrator Kerry Weems said. "The MCPSS provides contractors with

greater insight into their provider communities, and allows them to make

process improvements based on provider feedback."

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 1 to 6 with "1" representing "not at all satisfied" and

"6" representing "completely satisfied." The results of the second MCPSS --

which are available to health care providers and contractors on Medicare's

public website -- showed that 85 percent of respondents rated their

contractors between 4 and 6.

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.

"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."

CMS is sending the 2008 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 December 2007. The survey is designed so that it can be

completed in about 15 minutes. Providers can submit their responses via a

secure website, mail, fax or over the telephone. CMS is urging all Medicare

providers selected to participate in the survey to complete and return

their surveys upon receipt.