Which depression measures are in the 2026 Star Ratings: none

Significant findings

A common assumption is that the PHQ-9 feeds the Medicare Advantage star ratings. The 2026 Star Ratings Technical Notes, CMS's own measure-by-measure list, say otherwise. The Part C measures run from C01, Breast Cancer Screening, to C33, Call Center - Foreign Language Interpreter and TTY Availability. None is a depression screening, follow-up or remission measure.

The one mental-health star is C05, "Improving or Maintaining Mental Health", from the Health Outcomes Survey: "Percent of plan members whose mental health was the same or better than expected." The notes record that the physical and "Mental Health measures moved into the 2026 Star Ratings as new measures with a weight of 1", the weight given to any new measure "for their first year of inclusion." "Antidepressant Medication Management" appears in the notes under display-measure codes, and the notes explain: "Measure codes that begin with DM are display measures", which are published but do not count toward a rating.

The one place a health risk assessment appears is the Special Needs Plan care-management measure, which counts enrollees "who received a health risk assessment (HRA) during the measurement year."

Worth asking

So the money story for depression screening runs through the clinician's MIPS score and, in Medicare Advantage, through diagnosis coding and risk adjustment, not through the stars. If someone tells you your PHQ-9 is a star-rating measure, it is not, at least not in 2026.