Situation Report | June 29, 2020
The National Association for Home Care and Hospice reports that both hospice and home health providers will resume quality data reporting July 1, 2020.
For three calendar quarters — October 1, 2019 through June 30, 2020 — the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) provided an exception for hospice and home health providers from submitting quality data due to the current Public Health Emergency (PHE). With the exception ending June 30, 2020, providers will need to comply with all reporting requirements beginning July 1 in order to avoid the 2 percent payment update penalty.
For hospices, this means compliance with the Hospice Item Set (HIS) and Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) hospice survey reporting requirements:
- All HIS admissions and HIS discharges occurring on or after July 1, 2020
- CAHPS hospice surveys for eligible patients with dates of death July 1, 2020 or after. The reporting period for 2020 is July 1, 2020 to December 31, 2020.
For home health agencies (HHAs), this means compliance with the OASIS and Home Health CAHPS survey reporting requirements. The PHE has not ended and most of the waivers and flexibilities granted to hospice and home health providers continue through the end of the PHE.
More information is here.
HHAs
Providers can now download the latest Provider Preview Reports and the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating Preview Reports from iQIES. Both reports are accessible by selecting “My Reports” in iQIES. These reports preview data that will be displayed in the Home Health Compare website beginning around October 30, 2020. Providers are encouraged to save a copy of their preview reports for later reference.
Hospice
CMS will be sending letters notifying hospices of non-compliance with the reporting requirements impacting the Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP). Hospices will receive a notification from their Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) and a notification in their facility’s Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) folder. Either notification is an official notice. CMS anticipates that letters notifying hospices of non-compliance will be distributed in early- to mid-July 2020. The letter will include instructions for submitting reconsideration. If you receive a letter of non-compliance, you will have 30 days to file a reconsideration request. Hospices that are compliant will not receive any notifications.
Send an e-mail to CareChoices@cms.hhs.gov.