CMS administers several surveys to assess beneficiary experience with different types of health care. Some of these are CMS-only surveys. Others, those designated as CAHPS, have been approved by the AHRQ-overseen CAHPS consortium.

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS)-Medicare linked dataset includes HRS survey information linked to CMS claims and assessment data for the HRS study population. The HRS has been fielded since 1992 and surveys more than 30,000 people age 50 and older.

The Health and Retirement Study (HRS) is designed to:

• facilitate understanding of the relationship between medical history and financial status
• examine how use of health care may change as people age.

The longitudinal survey data is linked to CMS data to provide information on health care utilization and beneficiary assessment.

CMS is no longer distributing this file. See the NIA Data LINKAGE Program website to request this data.

The Medicare Health Outcomes Survey (HOS) collects patient-reported outcomes measures from beneficiaries enrolled in Medicare Advantage plans. The Medicare HOS program collects health status data for use in quality improvement activities, plan accountability documentation, and health improvement activities in a base survey and two year follow-up survey. The baseline sample size is 1,200.

The National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) collects interview data on functioning in late life among the elderly population. NHATS began collecting data in 2011, with over 8,000 Medicare beneficiaries responding to the first round.

CMS is no longer distributing this file. See the NIA Data LINKAGE Program website to request this data.