Qualtrics now a CMS-approved vendor to conduct the Health Outcomes Survey

At a time when customer experience and Quality teams are being asked to consolidate, reduce redundancies, and justify spending, industry leaders are centralizing their CX investments in purpose-built, industry-specific solutions to maximize ROI.

Qualtrics has earned approval from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to conduct the Health Outcomes Survey (HOS), a critical instrument used to evaluate a health plan member's experience, including evaluating the experience over time.

This milestone distinguishes Qualtrics® as the singular modern Customer Experience (CX) platform catering to both regulatory and non-regulatory needs, including Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) for MA & PDP CAHPS, HEDIS CAHPS, QHP, and HOS.

Embracing a modern approach for enhanced experiences

Historically, programs focusing on following regulations and those aimed at improving CX have been kept separate, leading to missed opportunities to gain valuable insights. Regulatory programs have been limited to making sure rules are followed and performing annual mock surveys with point-in-time insights. Meanwhile, CX efforts have concentrated on understanding and enhancing how we interact with customers, handle their transactions, and manage their overall journey in the healthcare system.

This separation results in different systems with different sets of data that is siloed, leading to critical data needed for improving experiences often overlooked.

The digital revolution demands more than just reliance on traditional data. By adopting an innovative, modern strategy, organizations can harvest insights instantaneously, paving the way for elevated performance. Real-time feedback instruments allow plan members to voice their opinions directly, highlighting urgent areas for support. Subsequently, healthcare plans can embark on focused engagement initiatives that cater specifically to the individual requirements of their members.

Demonstrated impact

One significant Blue Cross plan has utilized a comprehensive view integrating both 'call' and 'non-call' data to refine their outbound calling strategy. This effort has yielded a notable uplift in their Star Ratings by half a Star since the program began in 2020, translating to a substantial $75 million impact on their bottom line.

Similarly, another major payer has used concise, modern surveys in conjunction with a service recovery approach to improve member satisfaction. The satisfaction level among members who received service recovery outreach was 5.5% higher compared to those who did not. This initiative has now expanded to manage millions of exchanges yearly, targeting critical CAHPS measures.

Why choose Qualtrics?

Qualtrics simplifies member engagement with intuitive dashboards, comparative benchmarks, and robust analytics capabilities, all accessible through web, mail, and phone platforms. It is delivered by dedicated members focused on CAHPS with decades of experience, and allows clients to save time with self-service tools, and the ability to pull and view data in real-time, all while maintaining the highest security standards compliant with HIPAA HITRUST, GDPR, and FedRAMP.