The Final Countdown for Star Year 2025

It’s that time of year where Star Year (SY) 2025 draws to a close and all plans can begin to exhale from the continuous focus of HEDIS©, CAHPS and TTY/FLI seasons. Plans must make sure they don’t lose sight of the following closeout activities as you are continuously forecasting your final SY2025 performance.

Closeout activities:

• Understand Your CAHPS Performance Landscape
• Submit Final HEDIS© Reporting Data
• Final Call Center Data Gathering and Analysis
• Preparation for Plan Preview 1 and Plan Preview 2 
• Conduct Lessons Learned from Medical Record Review Season Activities

At this point in the year, we are also approaching the mid-way point for SY2026 and this year becomes more critical as member experience weighting shifts from a 4x to a 2x. Plans must ensure that they are organized, have their strategy in place and keep a pulse check on major changes from the last Star Year.

What should you be doing right now

• There’s no time like the present: Every day is critical in Stars. Whether it is integrating and aligning data sources, planning and implementing new interventions or developing robust strategies to address gaps from the prior year – start acting today.

• Buy-in and commitment are enhanced: Ensure that you have complete buy-in from leadership and commitment to put Stars as a priority. Stars cannot be done off the side of the desk; you must continuously refine your strategy to meet the organization’s goals.

• Spotlight on training and education: The Stars program is constantly undergoing changes. It’s important to allocate time to educate your organization on the broad implications Stars has across all areas of business.

• Focusing on HEDIS© at your plan: For SY2026, success in HEDIS© becomes more critical for a plans path to 4.0+ Stars. You must immediately address your plans Electronic Clinical Data Systems and Reporting strategy and enhance interventions to promote continuous gap closure throughout the year.

Develop your CAHPS Strategic plan for SY2026

Having a year-round CAHPS strategy to consistently focus on member experience and engagement is essential. It’s critical to utilize the feedback from the SY2025 CAHPS survey to inform additional strategies and improved messaging to members.

With the Star Year ending, it’s imperative you aren’t waiting to see results from HEDIS© and CAHPS to build the next levels of your strategic plan. If you are struggling to gain leadership buy-in or develop the right strategy to improve Stars delivery to meet your organizational goals – we are here to help.

At ProspHire, we continue to partner with health plans, to offer insights, analyze and execute strategies to improve Star ratings. Do you need support developing the right SY2026 execution strategy? Let’s have a conversation.

*NOTE: HEDIS© is a set of standardized performance measures developed by the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA).