MY2027 performance begins January 1, 2027
One partner accountable for both DSF rates to close the entire measure.
The 2029 DSF Star Rating combines population-level depression screening with documented follow-up after a positive result. Vitalic reaches older adults, captures structured screening results, delivers qualifying clinical follow-up within 30 days, and returns the evidence your ECDS workflow requires.
What Vitalic runs for you
- Population-scale PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 screening
- Licensed clinical follow-up within 30 days
- LOINC-mapped screening results and documented follow-up evidence
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How the measure is scored
One measure, two equally weighted rates.
DSF is a weight-1 process measure. CMS will average the screening and follow-up rates, making each responsible for 50% of the final measure score.
50% of the measure score
Screening rate
The percentage of eligible members with a documented result from an approved, age-appropriate depression screening instrument.
50% of the measure score
Follow-up rate
The percentage of members with a positive screening result who receive qualifying follow-up within 30 days.
Claims may capture some qualifying follow-up, but they generally do not contain the scored screening result needed to count the screen and identify the positive-screen denominator. Vitalic supplies that missing clinical-data layer and connects it directly to follow-up care.
What Vitalic delivers
Screening, follow-up, and reporting in one program.
Vitalic is accountable for both DSF rates, so there is no seam between the population work, the clinical work, and the data your quality team submits.
Screen at population scale
An AI-powered voice agent works alongside text, direct mail, and human support to administer approved PHQ-2 and PHQ-9 screening. Outreach is designed for older adults, who rarely respond to the member portals and digital tools built for commercial populations.
Clinical follow-up on standby
Licensed clinicians deliver qualifying follow-up inside the 30-day window, and any nonzero response to PHQ-9 item nine triggers same-day clinician outreach under Vitalic's safety protocol.
Data your ECDS process can use
Vitalic returns the screening date, instrument, score, interpretation, and measure-specified LOINC mapping, together with documented follow-up evidence, configured to your plan's accepted data specifications.
Clinical responsibility
Every positive screen starts a clinical clock.
Population-scale screening will identify members who need immediate attention as well as members who require follow-up within the measure's 30-day window.
Qualifying follow-up after a positive depression screen
As required by DSF.
Vitalic clinician outreach after any nonzero response to PHQ-9 item nine
Under Vitalic's safety protocol.
Vitalic provides both workflows with its own licensed clinicians. Plans do not have to hand positive results from a screening vendor to an already constrained internal care-management queue.
Questions
DSF, answered.
When does DSF affect our Star Rating?
Performance from January 1 through December 31, 2027 will determine the DSF measure included in the 2029 Star Ratings. DSF has appeared on the display page since the 2026 Star Ratings, but MY2027 is the first performance year tied directly to the Star Rating.
Can we close DSF with claims data alone?
Generally, no. Claims can document many qualifying follow-up events, but ordinary billing data generally do not include the standardized instrument and numerical result required to count a depression screen. That structured result also determines which members enter the follow-up denominator.
What counts as follow-up?
Qualifying follow-up may include any of the following:
- An outpatient, telephone, e-visit, or virtual check-in with the required behavioral-health documentation
- A qualifying depression case-management or behavioral-health encounter
- Exercise counseling
- A dispensed antidepressant
A negative full-length screen performed on the same day after a positive brief screen may also qualify.
Is DSF the same as DSF-E?
DSF is the name used for the Star Ratings measure. DSF-E is the HEDIS measure it draws on, Depression Screening and Follow-Up for Adolescents and Adults, specified for Electronic Clinical Data Systems reporting. Plan teams use both names.
How does the data reach our ECDS process?
Vitalic returns the screening date, instrument, score, interpretation, and measure-specified LOINC mapping, together with documented follow-up evidence. We configure delivery to your plan's accepted data specifications and support your validation process.
Build your MY2027 DSF plan.
Tell us your eligible member count and we will come back with a plan for both rates.
Get more info
Senior-focused behavioral health care for aging adults.
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