Providers Rate DME MACs ‘Average’ on Satisfaction Survey

ATLANTA—CMS’ DME MACs scored an average 4.47 out of
a possible 6 on the agency’s 2009 Medicare Contractor
Provider Satisfaction Survey.

The survey, in its fourth year, gauges provider satisfaction
with services performed by fee-for-service contractors that process
and pay the more than $300 billion in Medicare claims annually.
Those contractors include 13 fiscal intermediaries (FIs); 14
carriers; three Part A/Part B Medicare Administrative Contractors
(MACs); four Regional Home Health Intermediaries (RHHIs); the four
Durable Medical Equipment MACs; and the contractor handling the
Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) retirees.

The survey was sent early this year to more than 32,000 randomly
selected Medicare providers, including physicians, suppliers,
health care practitioners and institutional facilities across the
country.

Survey questions focused on seven contractor business functions:
provider outreach and education, inquiries, claims processing,
appeals, enrollment, medical review and audit and reimbursement. To
answer, respondents used a rating scale of 1 to 6, with 1
representing “not at all satisfied” and 6 representing
“completely satisfied.”

Across all FSS contractors, the 2009 average rating was 4.54,
compared to last year’s national average of 4.51. Across all
responding providers, 81 percent scored their contractors between 4
and 6 on the overall satisfaction question.

FI/Part A MACs received an average score of 4.67; RHHI received
4.70;  Carrier/Part B MACs received 4.39; and the DME MACs
received 4.47.

Here’s how the four DME MACs scored individually:

NHIC (Jurisdiction A) — 4.49
National Government Services (Jurisdiction B) — 4.52
CIGNA Government Services (Jurisdiction C) — 4.46
Noridian Administrative Services (Jurisdiction D) — 4.42

Providers submitting DME claims reported their highest ratings
for claims processing (4.69) and their lowest ratings for appeals
(4.36) and medical review (4.17). CMS noted, however, that 2009 was
the first year in which DME providers had been asked to rate their
MACs on the medical review function.

The full results of the 2009 survey are available through the CMS
and MCPSS Web pages at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/MCPSS/
and https://www.mcpsstudy.org/.