Tag: CMS Open Door Forum

Summary of the Recent CMS Open Door Forum

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME Open Door Forum on February 23, 2023.  The summary of the Forum applicable to home health and hospice providers is below.

The most recent Hospice Care Compare refresh occurred in February.  As part of that refresh, CMS included an annual update of Provider Use File (PUF) data on Care Compare, which now includes data from 2018, 2019, and 2020.

CMS will host a Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Spring Forum in late April, which will provide an overview of HQRP updates.  Registration will be available in mid-March, at which time additional information will be available.

Similar to the HHQRP, CMS has established a new Health Equity tab (https://www.cms.gov/hospice-qrp-health-equity) on the HQRP website , and the agency anticipates that the report from the Health Equity TEP, which was conducted last year, will be available in the spring.

Attendees were encouraged to submit any questions related to hospice quality to HospiceQualityQuestions@cms.hhs.gov.  Additional resources provided on the meeting agenda are:

CMS Open Door Forum Summary: Hospice

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME Open Door Forum on September 21, 2022. The summary of the Forum applicable to hospice providers is below. Care Compare CMS staff focused on updates to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) as part of the September Open Door Forum. …

The Next CMS Open Door Forum is Tomorrow

The next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum is scheduled for Wednesday, June 29, 2022 PM at 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). Please call at least 15 minutes prior to the forum start time. **This Agenda is Subject to Change** Opening Remarks Chair – Brian Slater, Center for Medicare, CMS Co-Chair- Kelly Vontran,…

CMS Home Health & Hospice Open Door Forum on Thursday

The next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum is scheduled for Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET).

Please call at least 15 minutes prior to the forum start time.

**This Agenda is Subject to Change**

    • Opening Remarks
      • Chair – Brian Slater, Center for Medicare, CMS
      • Moderator – Jill Darling, Office of Communications, CMS
    • Announcements & Updates
    • Update on the Master List and additional items selected for prior authorization
      • Prior Authorization website: cms.gov/DMEPOSPA
      • Prior Authorization Resource Mailbox: DMEPOSPA@cms.hhs.gov
    • Home Health claims processing update
    • Home Health CAHPS Survey Update
      • OASIS D
      • Public Reporting
    • Hospice QRP
      • APU
      • February Refresh
      • QM Report Update
      • HOPE Beta Testing
      • Resources

    III. Open Q&A

This call will be Conference Call Only.

To participate by phone, dial: 1-888-455-1397 & Reference Conference Passcode: 5109694

Persons participating by phone do not need to RSVP. TTY Communications Relay Services are available for the Hearing Impaired.  For TTY services dial 7-1-1 or 1-800-855-2880. A Relay Communications Assistant will help.

Instant Replay: 1- 800-396-1242; Conference Passcode: No Passcode Needed

Instant Replay is an audio recording of this call that can be accessed by dialing 1-800-396-1242, 1 hour after the call has ended. The recording expires February 26, 2022, 11:59 PM ET.

For ODF schedule updates and E-Mailing List registration, visit our website at http://www.cms.gov/OpenDoorForums/.

You can visit the CMS Podcasts and Transcript webpage where you can listen and view the most recent Home Health, Hospice & DME ODF call. Both the audio and transcript will be posted to: https://www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/OpenDoorForums/PodcastAndTranscripts.html.

CMS provides free auxiliary aids and services including information in accessible formats. Click here for more information.

CMS Home Health & Hospice Open Door Forum on Thursday

The next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum is scheduled for Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). Please call at least 15 minutes prior to the forum start time. **This Agenda is Subject to Change** Opening Remarks Chair – Brian Slater, Center for Medicare, CMS Moderator – Jill Darling, Office…

CMS Updated Quality Reporting in the Open Door Forum

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided some important quality updates in the Tuesday, December 14 Home Health, Hospice, and DME (Durable Medicare Equipment) Open Door Forum (ODF). What follows is a detailed summary of those updates from a NAHC staffer who monitored the call.

HOSPICE QUALITY REPORTING PROGRAM UPDATES

CMS reminded hospices that the FY2024 annual payment update is based on the CY2022 data submissions.  Hospices must comply with the following HIS and Hospice CAHPS Survey participation requirements to avoid the APU penalty which increases to 4% in FY2024.

  • Submit at least 90% of HIS records within the 30 days of the event date (patient’s admission or discharge) for patient admissions/discharges occurring 1/1/22 – 12/31/22
  • Ongoing monthly participation in the CAHPS Hospice Survey 1/1/22 – 12/31/22

CMS also reminded hospices that it recognizes that there are instances where an extraordinary or extenuating circumstance beyond the hospice’s control (e.g., natural disasters) may delay or prevent submission of required data, and hospices can submit requests for an extension or exemption within 90 days of the extraordinary circumstance event.  NAHC encourages hospices to review the HQRP webpage devoted to these instances for more information and to submit a request for an extension or exemption when warranted.  While the example CMS uses for such a circumstance is a natural disaster there are other circumstances that are out of the hospice’s control and impact its ability to submit quality data such as the current COVID pandemic.

Public reporting for hospices will resume with the February 2022 refresh on Care Compare. This refresh excludes Q1 and Q2 2020 data due to the Public Health Emergency (PHE) exemption of data submission requirements for these quarters.  So, CMS will use fewer quarters of data than usual for this refresh due to this exemption.  CMS plans to post a public reporting tip sheet later this week with more information about public reporting.

The Hospice Quality Reporting Program Quality Measure Specifications User’s Manual v1.00 is now available and reflects changes in the FY2022 hospice final rule, specifically the new Hospice Care Index (HCI) and Hospice Visits in Last Days of Life (HVLDL) measures. Updated documents related to the current measures including the Manual, a change table, and updated measures are available on the Current Measures webpage.

Materials from the HQRP webinar CMS held on October 19 are available in the Downloads section of the Provider & Stakeholder Engagement webpage.

Hospices should review documents available in the Downloads and Provider Toolkit sections of the Requirements & Best Practices webpage as there are updated provider resource documents available.

CMS Updated Quality Reporting in the Open Door Forum

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided some important quality updates in the Tuesday, December 14 Home Health, Hospice, and DME (Durable Medicare Equipment) Open Door Forum (ODF). What follows is a detailed summary of those updates from a NAHC staffer who monitored the call. HOME HEALTH QUALITY REPORTING PROGRAM UPDATES The reconsideration…

New CMS Open Door Forum is Tomorrow

The next Home Health, Hospice & DME Open Door Forum is scheduled for Tuesday, December 14, 2021 PM at 2:00-3:00 PM Eastern Time (ET). Please call at least 15 minutes prior to the forum start time. **This Agenda is Subject to Change** Opening Remarks Chair – Brian Slater, Center for Medicare, CMS Moderator – Jill…

CMS Open Door Forum Shares Hospice Star Rating Info

During the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home Health, Hospice, and DME (Durable Medicare Equipment) Open Door Forum (ODF), the following information and updates were provided.

Hospice providers should note that CMS has resumed the provider enrollment revalidation process along with some other provider enrollment processes that were temporarily suspended during a portion of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency.  See previous NAHC Report coverage here and the September 2, 2021 MLN Connects newsletter.

UPDATES

Hospices will see the resumption of public reporting of quality data with the February 2022 Care Compare refresh.  Provider preview reports for this refresh can now be accessed via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. These reports preview data that will be displayed in the Care Compare website in February 2022. The Hospice Item Set (HIS) measure scores are based on fewer than the standard number of quarters due to data exemptions in response to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE), and the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey measure scores exclude Quarter 1 and Quarter 2 of calendar year 2020 (but still include eight quarters).

The Provider Preview Reports remain in CASPER for 60 days only so hospices are encouraged to save a copy of their preview reports for later reference.

Learn more about HIS Provider Preview Reports here and about the CAHPS Preview Reports here. Hospice QRP Key Dates for Providers can be found here.

CMS notified hospices that the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Hospice Survey Star Rating will be available to the public on Care Compare in August 2022.  (See previous NAHC Report coverage here). Hospices will first see their star ratings on the preview reports for February this month (November 2021) and also available in the May 2022 provider preview reports. CMS is considering this the “dry run” period.  The star rating will not be publicly reported during this period.

Hospices will see the star rating for each of the eight CAHPS measures in the preview reports but only the summary star will appear on Care Compare.  CAHPS Hospice Survey Provider Preview Reports include both quality measure scores and Star Ratings. Again, CAHPS Hospice Survey Star Ratings will not be publicly reported until August 2022.

CMS shared that it is planning an upcoming HQRP Forum which will include CAHPS information.

  • Thursday, December 16, 2021
  • 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM Eastern

Hospices should mark this on their calendars and stay tuned to NAHC Report for more information. We will provide an update when CMS releases registration information.

Hospices had questions about the CAHPS Star Rating including, in particular, the methodology for calculating the star rating. A CMS slide deck providing an overview of the star rating inclusive of the methodology is available here. Additional information pertaining to the star rating is available here.

Resources for the HQRP and CAHPS Hospice Survey Star Rating are available on the HQRP webpage and the CAHPS Hospice Survey webpage.

In other HQRP news, CMS responded to a question about the timing of the transition to the iQIES system stating that this transition is not scheduled to occur in 2022.

CMS Open Door Forum Shares Hospice Star Rating Info & Updates Home Health Notice of Admission

During the most recent Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Home Health, Hospice, and DME (Durable Medicare Equipment) Open Door Forum (ODF), the following information and updates were provided. Both home health and hospice providers should note that CMS has resumed the provider enrollment revalidation process along with some other provider enrollment processes that…