One of the most influential components of Star Ratings has been halved in weight but that doesn’t mean you should slow down.
After years of CAHPS being weighted at 4×, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced in late 2024 that CAHPS measures would be rolled back to 2× starting in 2026. On paper, this meant CAHPS will have less impact over total Star Ratings starting in measurement year 2024 and survey year 2025.
But here’s the catch: even at 2×, CAHPS still makes up roughly 20% (or more) of your Stars score, a percentage substantial enough to make or break your bonus payout. And beyond Stars, CAHPS scores offer a powerful representation of something much bigger: member trust, loyalty, and access to care.
Best Practices to Maximize CAHPS in a 2× World
Despite its reduced weighting, CAHPS is still a major Stars driver and influences members’ experience. The goal is to make your CAHPS strategy part of your everyday operations throughout the year, not just when survey time rolls around.
1. Deepen Provider–Payer Collaboration
- Alert providers to overdue wait times, no-shows or service breakdowns before members become aware.
- Give providers access to patient experience data, along with the authority to take corrective action right away.
Incentivize providers who help improve member satisfaction and contribute to quality score improvements.
2. Prioritize Empathetic, Human Outreach
- Make scheduling appointments easy and convenient
- Combine predictive analytics with human outreach to help identify and engage members who will benefit the most from assistance
Follow up with members after their visit to answer questions, eliminate barriers, and reinforce next steps to help increase trust and improve adherence for other areas such as medication management and screenings.
3. Establish Feedback Loops
- Measure member sentiment throughout the year with pulse surveys, call center monitoring, and social and web listening.
- Tackle system and process problems before they hit CAHPS (and possibly depress other quality scores).
- Apply the intelligence you gather to guide network management, internal operations, and member outreach.
Boosting CAHPS: Moda Health’s Experience
One health plan that has proven that this approach works is Moda Health. Struggling with CAHPS scores in an increasingly competitive marketplace, Moda knew a short-term, quick-fix solution wouldn’t be enough. They required a scalable, replicable model that would improve the member experience, establish trust, and protect Stars performance for the long haul.
Moda Health, along with help from ReferWell, Decision Point, and Rex Wallace Consulting blended predictive targeting, empathetic member engagement, and rapid execution to connect with populations that were previously hard to reach The results:
- 85%+ engagement rate
- Satisfaction scores over 9/10
- CAHPS rating jump from 1.875 to 3.25 in just one year
This type of lift proves that with a strategic approach, you can move the needle and create a foundation that continues to build value well past 2026.
What’s Next
The 2× weight drop announced late last year is not an excuse to sit back, rather it presents an opportunity to reset the way you engage members, partner with providers, and build trust throughout the year.
Learn exactly how Moda Health did it. [Download the full case study] to see how they created a scalable, repeatable model for CAHPS success , and how your team can launch a similar initiative before the 2026 changes are implemented.
Note: Moda Health, like numerous smaller, regional health plans, made a strategic decision to exit the Medicare Advantage market in 2025 to focus on its core commercial health plan business.
