SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Contents

This notice sets out a summary of the use and burden associated with the following information collections. More detailed information can be found in each collection's supporting statement and associated materials (see ADDRESSES ).

Under the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501-3520), federal agencies must obtain approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for each collection of information they conduct or sponsor. The term “collection of information” is defined in 44 U.S.C. 3502(3) and 5 CFR 1320.3(c) and includes agency requests or requirements that members of the public submit reports, keep records, or provide information to a third party. Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA requires federal agencies to publish a 60-day notice in the Federal Register concerning each proposed collection of information, including each proposed extension or reinstatement of an existing collection of information, before submitting the collection to OMB for approval. To comply with this requirement, CMS is publishing this notice.

Information Collection

1. Type of Information Collection Request: Revision of a currently approved Information Collection; Title of Information Collection: Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Survey for Merit-based Incentive Payment Systems (MIPS); Use: This is a request to revise the information collection for the CAHPS for MIPS Survey. The CAHPS for MIPS survey is used in the Quality Payment Program (QPP) to collect data on fee-for-service Medicare beneficiaries' experiences of care with eligible clinicians participating in MIPS and is designed to gather only the necessary data that CMS needs for assessing physician quality performance, and related public reporting on physician performance, and should complement other data collection efforts. The survey consists of the core Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) CAHPS Clinician & Group Survey, version 3.0, plus additional survey questions to meet CMS's information and program needs. The survey information is used for quality reporting, the compare tool on the Medicare.gov website, and annual statistical experience reports describing MIPS data for all MIPS eligible clinicians.

This 2026 information collection request addresses the requirements related to the statutorily required quality measurement. The CAHPS for MIPS survey results in burden to three different types of entities: groups, virtual groups, and subgroups; vendors; and beneficiaries associated with administering the survey. Virtual groups are subject to the same requirements as groups and subgroups; therefore, we will refer only to “groups” as an inclusive term for all entities unless otherwise noted.

The revision consists of a change to the vendor participation form to collect cost information from survey vendors. The collection of this cost information was proposed in the CY 2025 PFS final rule (89 FR 62010) and (89 FR 62123). The revision also includes changes to the vendor participation form to collect information related to the addition of web to the existing mail-phone administration protocol. The addition of web as the first mode of administration was proposed in the CY 2026 PFS final rule (90 FR 49266) and (90 FR 49760). The changes to the vendor participation form consist of:

• 2 new items to collect information on cost.
• 1 new item to collect information related to web administration of the survey.
• 12 items revised to collect information related to web administration of the survey.

The cost information is readily available to survey vendors, as a result adding it to the vendor participation form does not affect burden. The web survey requires vendors to collect additional information to complete the vendor participation form. We estimate an additional hour of burden for a total of 11 hours per application, an increase to the 10 hours per application first established in the CY 2018 Quality Payment Program final rule (82 FR 30216). We also assume this change would not affect survey vendor participation. Form Number: CMS-10450 (OMB control number: 0938-1222); Frequency: Yearly; Affected Public: Business or other for-profits and Not-for-profit institutions and Individuals and Households; Number of Respondents: 26,976; Total Annual Responses: 26,976; Total Annual Hours: 6,139 (For policy questions regarding this collection contact Julie Johnson at 410-786-1507.)

91 FR 22536