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FEMA Declaration State FEMA Individual Assistance Counties or County Equivalents DR-4829-SC South Carolina Abbeville, Aiken, Allendale, Anderson, Bamberg, Barnwell, Beaufort, Catawba Indian Reservation, Cherokee, Chester, Edgefield, Fairfield, Greenville, Greenwood, Hampton, Jasper, Kershaw, Laurens, Lexington, McCormick, Newberry, Oconee, Orangeburg, Pickens, Richland, Saluda, Spartanburg, Union, York

DR-4834-FL Florida Brevard, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, DeSoto, Duval, Flagler, Glades, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miccosukee Indian Reservation, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, Volusia

Further, as part of our Part C and D Star Ratings disaster policy at §§ 422.166(i)(2)(ii) and 423.186(i)(2)(ii), we codified that if at least 25 percent of a contract’s enrollees resided in a FEMA-designated Individual Assistance area at the time of a qualifying extreme and uncontrollable circumstance, the contract may be exempt from administering the MA and PDP CAHPS survey if it demonstrates that the required sample for the survey cannot be contacted because a substantial number of the contract’s enrollees are displaced due to the qualifying disaster in the calendar year prior to the relevant Star Ratings year and requests and receives a CMS-approved exemption. If an affected contract meeting the criteria requests and receives this exemption, the contract receives the MA and PDP CAHPS measure-level Star Ratings and scores from the prior year. The January 2025 wildfires in Los Angeles County are a qualifying disaster for purposes of §§ 422.166(i)(2)(ii) and 423.186(i)(2)(ii). Therefore, eligible contracts that requested and received an exemption from the 2025 MA and PDP CAHPS survey as a result of the Los Angeles County wildfires will not have the 2025 MA and PDP CAHPS surveys administered and will receive the CAHPS stars and measure scores from the 2025 Star Ratings for the 2026 Star Ratings CAHPS measures.

For all contracts affected by the 2025 Los Angeles County wildfires (i.e., at least 25 percent of their enrollees resided in Los Angeles County at the time of the disaster), the CAHPS measure- level better-of policy codified at §§ 422.166(i)(2)(iv) and 423.186(i)(2)(iv) will be implemented for the 2026 and 2027 Star Ratings. That is, each year we will compare the CAHPS measure- level stars to the prior year and give these contracts impacted by the Los Angeles County wildfires the higher CAHPS measure star and associated score. For example, for eligible contracts that requested and received an exemption from the 2025 MA and PDP CAHPS survey as a result of the Los Angeles County wildfires, the 2025 CAHPS measure-level Star Ratings