Boosting Medicare Survey Responses: A Closer Look at Telephone Follow-Ups

Medicare patient surveys play a big role in understanding healthcare quality, especially for those who need it most. But there's a problem: not everyone responds, which can skew the results. This is especially true for underserved groups. Enter the telephone follow-up, a proven method to bump up response rates in healthcare settings. However, there hasn't been much recent research on this for Medicare enrollees, including those with Medicare Advantage. So, what did we do? We took a look at the 2022 Medicare Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (MCAHPS) surveys. We wanted to see how many people responded and whether they did so by mail or phone. We also checked out some personal details, like age and health status, to see how they might affect response rates. Why does this matter? Well, if we don't hear from everyone, we can't get a full picture of healthcare quality. And that's not fair, especially for those who might need better care. So, let's dig into the data and see what we can learn.