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OMB Control No: 0938-1379	ICR Reference No: 202007-0938-005
Status: Historical Active	Previous ICR Reference No:
Agency/Subagency: HHS/CMS	Agency Tracking No: OEDA
Title: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) COVID-19 Rapid Response Supplement (CMS-P-0015A)
Type of Information Collection: New collection (Request for a new OMB Control Number)	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Emergency	Approval Requested By: 08/07/2020
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved with change	Conclusion Date: 08/07/2020
	Date Received in OIRA: 07/23/2020
Terms of Clearance:

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	02/28/2021	6 Months From Approved
Responses	11,536	0	0
Time Burden (Hours)	2,884	0	0
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: CMS has determined that asking a short series of COVID-19 related questions as a supplement to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey is essential to CMS’ emergency response to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, self-reported data from beneficiaries who participate on the MCBS will provide unique and critical COVID-19 measures that are not available in CMS administrative data. For example, CMS has provided valuable aggregate data from Medicare Fee-for-Service claims data, Medicare Advantage encounter data, and Medicare enrollment information3. Self-reported data obtained through the MCBS COVID-19 Supplement will provide additional measures that can be provided only by interviewing Medicare beneficiaries. MCBS respondents, by definition, are most at risk for underlying conditions that may lead to more severe COVID-19 complications. Since the MCBS is a nationally representative sample of all Medicare beneficiaries, CMS has determined that a MCBS Fall COVID-19 Supplement is a unique vehicle to further assess and understand the COVID-19 pandemic. Implementing the MCBS Fall COVID-19 Supplement no later than October 2020 will allow for data to begin to be released to the public by December 2020. Because the survey must remain in the field for multiple weeks to complete data collection, launching the survey later than the beginning of October is not feasible to provide data by the end of the year. Data collection for the Fall COVID-19 Supplement to be administered by phone of all MCBS survey respondents will begin October 5, 2020 for a 5 week period. Once data collection is completed, approximately 5 weeks is needed for data processing, data review, quality control, weighting and development of preliminary estimates which will be released to the public by mid-December. This will be followed by data releases in 2021 as part of the MCBS 2019 Survey File Limited Data Set. Access to disclosure protected data is also planned through a special stand-alone 2019 MCBS COVID Public Use File in order to provide the data in the most expeditious manner to data users both internal to and external to CMS.

Emergency Justfication: With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., CMS is uniquely positioned to collect timely and vital information on how the pandemic is impacting the Medicare population by utilizing the MCBS. The MCBS is a continuous, multi-purpose survey of a representative national sample of the Medicare population, including the population of beneficiaries aged 65 and over and beneficiaries aged 64 and below with eligible disabilities, residing in the United States (it is collected under 0938-0568, expiration 08/31/2022). MCBS beneficiaries, by definition, are most at risk for underlying conditions that may lead to more severe COVID-19 complications. This request for emergency clearance approval proposes to add the Fall COVID-19 Supplement to the MCBS Fall 2020 Round 88 data collection. By selecting MCBS respondents to participate in the Fall COVID-19 Supplement, CMS can reduce the burden of the questionnaire by only needing to ask questions directly related to the impact of the pandemic. CMS requests that OMB consider approving the emergency clearance request by August 7, 2020. This date is based on approximately an 8 week accelerated schedule to prepare for data collection (2 weeks to finalize case management and questionnaire programming specifications, 4 weeks for programming and user acceptance testing, and 2 weeks for final systems integration testing, during which remote training of interviewers will also be conducted). These steps must be done concurrently and 8 weeks is the shortest period of time that will result in a fully developed and tested instrument. Data collection for the Fall COVID-19 Supplement to be administered by phone of all MCBS survey respondents will begin October 5, 2020 for a 5 week period. Once data collection is completed, approximately 5 weeks is needed for data processing, data review, quality control, weighting and development of preliminary estimates which will be released to the public by mid-December. This will be followed by data releases in 2021 as part of the MCBS 2019 Survey File Limited Data Set. Access to disclosure protected data is also planned through a special stand-alone 2019 MCBS COVID Public Use File in order to provide the data in the most expeditious manner to data users both internal to and external to CMS.

Authorizing Statute(s): PL: Pub.L. 111 - 148 3021 Name of Law: Affordable Care Act
PL: Pub.L. 108 - 173 723 Name of Law: Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act

Citations for New Statutory Requirements: PL: Pub.L. 108 - 173 723
PL: Pub.L. 111 - 148 3021

Associated Rulemaking Information
RIN:	Stage of Rulemaking:	Federal Register Citation:	Date:
	Not associated with rulemaking

Federal Register Notices & Comments
30-day Notice:	Federal Register Citation:	Citation Date:
	85 FR 44094	07/21/2020
Did the Agency receive public comments on this ICR? No

Number of Information Collection (IC) in this ICR: 1

IC Title	Form No.	Form Name
Fall COVID-19 Supplement	P-0015A, P-0015A	,

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Change Due to New Statute
Annual Number of Responses	11,536	11,536
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	2,884	2,884
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0

Burden increases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Increase Due to:

Burden decreases because of Program Change due to Agency Discretion: No

Burden Reduction Due to:

Short Statement:

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $23,855,000

Does this IC contain surveys, censuses, or employ statistical methods? Yes Part B of Supporting Statement

Does this ICR request any personally identifiable information (see OMB Circular No. A-130 for an explanation of this term)? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Does this ICR include a form that requires a Privacy Act Statement (see 5 U.S.C. §552a(e)(3))? Please consult with your agency's privacy program when making this determination. No

Is this ICR related to the Affordable Care Act [Pub. L. 111-148 & 111-152]? Yes

Is this ICR related to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, [Pub. L. 111-203]? No

Is this ICR related to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)? No

Is this ICR related to the Pandemic Response? Yes

Agency Contact: Stephan McKenzie 410 786-1943 stephan.mckenzie@cms.hhs.gov

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