Product methodology
MA Plan Star Ratings Forensics
Source contract, normalization path, entity-graph join, refresh posture, and publication limits for this Branmoor product.
Status
In service. This product has a functional preview or paid engagement surface in the current site. The full licensed product may still include private exports, alerts, APIs, or buyer-specific diligence that are not exposed publicly.
Distribution Scope
Nationwide; TN plan market; Nashville senior-market slice
Product Question
Explains Medicare Advantage star-rating movements and methodology effects.
Primary Sources
- CMS Medicare Advantage Star Ratings — Contract-level ratings, measure-level scores, cut-points
- CMS HEDIS and CAHPS public files — Underlying measure inputs
- CMS Medicare Advantage Public Use Files — Enrollment, plan benefits, bid-level data
- CMS technical notices and methodology updates — Cut-point methodology changes, weight rebalancing, measure additions/retirements
Entity-Graph Join
contract/plan IDs, parent `irs_ein`, county service areas, provider network `npi`.
Publication Rule
Branmoor does not treat raw public records as the product. A surface is publishable only when the source record is dated, normalized, source-linked, and joined to the relevant Branmoor entity identifiers with enough confidence to state the limits of the result.
Current Methodology Note
The preview register shows every contract's CMS-published Star Ratings for the current and prior plan year with a Branmoor-computed year-over-year trajectory. The licensed Forensic adds measure-level cut-point analysis, the next-year projection model, and dollar-at-stake decomposition.
Limits
Coverage follows the underlying source. Missing state portals, gated APIs, PDF-only filings, suppressed fields, lagged agency refreshes, and entity-name ambiguity can all limit product completeness. Pending products are not marketed as live until those limits are documented on the product surface.