Dropped calls cost stars

FORT WORTH, Texas — The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) prevailed over an Administrative Procedure Act lawsuit accusing it of arbitrarily or capriciously giving the insurer Humana, a Medicare Advantage Organization, just 3.5 stars for its call center’s performance in processing calls from enrollees with limited English. Three of five test calls were unsuccessful in part because two were dropped before an interpreter could join and one was completely silent; CMS’s policy of not calling back for dropped test calls is not substantively arbitrary.