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View ICR - OIRA Conclusion

OMB Control No: 0938-0568	ICR Reference No: 202511-0938-005
Status: Active	Previous ICR Reference No: 202504-0938-006
Agency/Subagency: HHS/CMS	Agency Tracking No: OEDA
Title: Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) (CMS-P-0015A)
Type of Information Collection: Revision of a currently approved collection	Common Form ICR: No
Type of Review Request: Regular
OIRA Conclusion Action: Approved without change	Conclusion Date: 01/06/2026
Retrieve Notice of Action (NOA)	Date Received in OIRA: 11/21/2025
Terms of Clearance: Prior to the re-submission of the information collection (IC) “Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS)” (0938-0568), the agency will assess its respondent burden. This assessment will be guided by the principles and priorities set forth in the Executive Order 14192 title "Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation" (January 21, 2025) https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/01/unleashing-prosperity-through-deregulation/. The assessment will inform and be integrated in the agency’s next extension or revision of this information collection. Also, the agency will offset any new additional burden created by new forthcoming supplemental information collections that use the MCBS (0938-0568) panel.

	Inventory as of this Action	Requested	Previously Approved
Expiration Date	01/31/2029	36 Months From Approved	08/31/2027
Responses	35,015	0	35,015
Time Burden (Hours)	32,258	0	35,206
Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	0	0

Abstract: The Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) is a continuous, multipurpose survey of a nationally representative sample of aged, disabled, and institutionalized Medicare beneficiaries. MCBS, which is sponsored by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is the only comprehensive source of information on the health status, health care use and expenditures, health insurance coverage, and socioeconomic and demographic characteristics of the entire spectrum of Medicare beneficiaries. The purpose of this revision is to seek approval for CMS to add new items on sleep apnea, thyroid disease, and bowel disease, remove content that is no longer relevant to the goals of the survey, and update existing content to better meet the policy needs of CMS and stakeholders. To ensure the sustainability of the survey and to maintain a reasonable level of respondent burden, it is necessary to routinely review MCBS survey content and remove items that are no longer as relevant to the policy landscape or which are no longer performing well. The requested deletions are a result of a content reduction process that CMS developed in 2024 and is currently using to review MCBS survey content in the Community and Facility instruments. The goals of this process are three-fold: 1) to promote efficiency by streamlining the questionnaire and reducing respondent burden; 2) to continuously assess utility of information collected by the MCBS and remove questions that are no longer relevant, and 3) to maintain the production of high-quality data by removing content that is no longer performing well. For this full clearance revision, CMS has used the content reduction process to identify items that a) are low performing due to difficulty of administration or data quality issues, b) are no longer needed at the same frequency of administration, c) require updated question text or response options, or d) no longer match the existing healthcare landscape or require further evaluation.

ICR Summary of Burden

	Total Approved	Previously Approved	Change Due to Agency Discretion
Annual Number of Responses	35,015	35,015	0
Annual Time Burden (Hours)	32,258	35,206	-2,948
Annual Cost Burden (Dollars)	0	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: Yes

Burden Reduction Due to: Miscellaneous Actions

Short Statement: Burden has decreased due to the removal of 209 items and the revision of 46 items. As a result, the total burden has decreased from 35,206 in the currently approved clearance to 32,258. This is a net decrease of 2,948 burden hours annually.

Annual Cost to Federal Government: $22,000,000

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? No

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