Tag: HQRP

Webinar Tomorrow: CMS’ Proposed Hospice FY2024 Payment Rule: Implications for Agencies & Hospice

Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM EDT (90 Minutes) REGISTER NOW Free to NAHC members  In addition to routine annual payment changes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) proposed fiscal year (FY) 2024 Hospice Payment Rule, issued on March 31, contains valuable updates on the Hospice Quality Reporting Program…

Webinar: CMS’ Proposed Hospice FY2024 Payment Rule: Implications for Agencies & Hospice

Date: Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Time: 12:00 – 1:30 PM EDT (90 Minutes) REGISTER NOW Free to NAHC members  In addition to routine annual payment changes, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (CMS’) proposed fiscal year (FY) 2024 Hospice Payment Rule, issued on March 31, contains valuable updates on the Hospice Quality Reporting Program…

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:

NOW AVAILABLE IN QIES – Hospice Preview Reports for the May 2023 Refresh

Providers can now access the latest Provider Preview Reports via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. Once released in CASPER, providers will have 30 days during which to review their quality measure results. Although the actual “preview period” is 30 days, the reports will continue to be available for another 30 days,…

Hospice Quality Reporting Program CY2022 Fourth Quarter Update

The Q4 2022 Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Update has been posted to the HQRP Requirements and Best Practices webpage. As a reminder, the HQRP Quarterly Update will no longer be posted.  Instead, it will be distributed via email and providers can sign up for the quarterly informational emails at QRPHelp@swingtech.com Also, a reminder that…

CMS Open Door Forum Updates for Home Health and Hospice Providers

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME Open Door Forum on December 7, 2022.  The summary of the Forum applicable to home health and hospice providers is below. HOSPICE Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) The Provider Preview Reports (PPR) for the February refresh of Care Compare became…

Now Available in iQIES: Preview Reports for the February 2023 Refresh

Providers can now access the latest Provider Preview Reports via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. Once released in CASPER, providers will have 30 days during which to review their quality measure results. Although the actual “preview period” is 30 days, the reports will continue to be available for another 30 days,…

CMS Open Door Forum Updates Home Health & Hospice Providers

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME Open Door Forum on November 9, 2022. What follows is a summary of the relevant ODF content for home health and hospice providers. HOME HEALTH CMS began the Forum with a summary of the CY 2023 Home Health Prospective Payment…

CMS Provides HQRP Updates During September Forum

On September 28, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a Forum on the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) which, for the most part, provided a review of information published in the FY2023 Hospice Final Rule and recent public reporting activity. Of note were comments regarding status of the Hospice Outcomes &…

CMS Provides HQRP Updates During September Forum

On September 28, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a Forum on the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) which, for the most part, provided a review of information published in the FY2023 Hospice Final Rule and recent public reporting activity.

Of note were comments regarding status of the Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation (HOPE) assessment tool.  CMS continues to seek hospice providers to participate in Beta testing of the HOPE tool, and a detailed recruitment announcement is available on CMS’s Hospice QRP Provider and Stakeholder Engagement webpage. Those interested in participating should email HOPETesting@abtassoc.com.

Beta testing is expected to continue into spring 2023, after which CMS and Abt (the HOPE tool contractor) must conduct in-depth analysis of the testing. Following conclusion of this analysis and any modifications that the HOPE tool might undergo as a result, the HOPE tool must go through rulemaking so that public stakeholders have an opportunity to comment on the tool and CMS’ plans for implementation.

Given the time frame for the work that remains to finalize the tool, it is unclear whether CMS will propose the tool as part of the FY2024 proposed hospice payment rule or whether public consideration would be delayed until the next rulemaking cycle (applicable to FY2025).

A recording of the September Forum will be posted in the near future and will be announced in NAHC Report.