A Framework for Patient-Centered Health Risk Assessments

The Affordable Care Act (ACA), Section 4103, requires that a health risk assessment be included in the annual wellness visit benefit authorized for Medicare beneficiaries under the Act. CDC has collaborated with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to develop an evidence-informed framework document for this type of assessment, A Framework for Patient-Centered Health Risk Assessments: Providing Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Services to Medicare Beneficiaries. (PDF, 3 MB)

This framework includes sections on Use of HRAs and Follow-Up Interventions that evidence suggests can influence health behaviors; Defining the HRA Framework (i.e., HRA Plus process) and rationale for its use; History of Health Risk Assessments, and a Suggested Set of HRA Questions.

Background on Developing this Document

In addition to reviewing the most recent literature, CDC convened internal and external workgroups to provide input into the development process for this framework.

A public request for information published in the Federal Register on November 16, 2010, was open for comment until January 3, 2011. All of those comments are available in this document, Final Comments on HRAs (PDF, 3.5MB).

CDC convened a public forum in Atlanta at CDC headquarters on February 1–2, 2011. A compilation of the public forum proceedings provides additional input into the guidance.