Hospice and home health members should be aware of the following updates from LeadingAge National:

HHVBP Final 2023 Interim Performance Reports Available. The Final October 2023 Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) are now available on the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES), in the “HHA Provider Preview Reports” folder, by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Certification Number (CCN) assigned to the home health agency (HHA). Only iQIES users authorized to view an HHA’s reports can access the expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model reports. If a provider has more than one CCN, a report will be available for each CCN. The Final IPR reflects any changes resulting from an approved recalculation request. Please note that for the Calendar Year (CY) 2023 performance year, only active HHAs that were Medicare-certified prior to Jan. 1, 2022, and have sufficient data for at least one quality measure, will receive an IPR. If an HHA needs to register a user or experiences trouble locating or downloading reports, please contact the QIES/iQIES Service Center at 800-339-9313 or by email at iqies@cms.hhs.gov.

CMS Hosting HCBS CAHPS Survey Webinar. CMS invites states, managed care plans, and other organizations that have or are considering use of the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS CAHPS) Survey to assess quality in Medicaid HCBS to join a call on Jan. 10, 2024 at 2 p.m. ET to provide input and feedback. CMS intends to provide an overview and background of the HCBS CAHPS and hear from participants about potential updates to the survey. Register here in advance. If you are interested in providing verbal feedback, please consider which virtual “queue” is most appropriate for you and designate in your registration form.

CMS Considers Two New Hospice Measures and Updates to Hospice CAHPS. On Dec. 1, 2023, CMS released the Measures Under Consideration list, which is a list of quality and efficiency measures that CMS is considering adopting through the federal rulemaking process for different levels of care each year. Included in this year’s list are two new process measures for hospices based on the yet-to-be-released Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool and three changes to the current Hospice CAHPS survey. The Partnership for Quality Measurement will host a listening session regarding these measures on Dec. 18, 2023 from 1-3 p.m. ET. Interested members can register here.

• Hospice CAHPS Changes:
  • Sub-measure 1: New measure never reviewed by Measure Applications Partnership (MAP) Workgroup or used in a CMS program.
  • Sub-measure 2: Measure currently used in a CMS program, but the measure is undergoing substantial change.
  • Sub-measure 3: Measure currently used in a CMS program, but the measure is undergoing substantial change.
• The Timely Reassessment of Pain Impact: measure captures the percent of hospice patient assessments that have a pain reassessment within two days when pain impact was initially assessed as moderate or severe. Data for this measure are collected by hospice clinicians using the HOPE instrument. Symptom impact assessments are administered at fixed timepoints during a hospice election – at admission (ADM) and in conjunction with the first and second interdisciplinary group (IDG) meetings. When pain symptom impact is assessed as moderate or severe, a HOPE Symptom Reassessment (SRA) is to occur within two calendar days of the initial/triggering assessment. For the purposes of this measure, a quality episode is defined as the period from the date of the symptom impact assessment to two calendar days thereafter.
• The Timely Reassessment of Non-Pain Symptom Impact: measure captures the percent of hospice patient assessments that have non-pain symptom(s) reassessment within two days when symptom impact was initially assessed as moderate or severe. Data for this measure are collected by hospice clinicians using the HOPE instrument. Symptom impact assessments are administered at fixed timepoints during a hospice election – at ADM and in conjunction with the first and second IDG meetings. When non-pain symptom impact is assessed as moderate or severe, a HOPE SRA is to occur within two calendar days of the initial/triggering assessment. For purposes of this measure, a quality episode is defined as the period from the date of the symptom impact assessment to two calendar days thereafter.

OIG Releases Consumer Alert for Remote Patient Monitoring. A new fraud scheme involving signing up Medicare enrollees for remote patient monitoring (RPM) has been identified by the Office of Inspector General (OIG). Legitimate RPM involves using medical devices such as scales, glucose monitors, blood pressure cuffs, cardiac rhythm devices, and other equipment to remotely monitor for anomalies in patients with chronic medical conditions. This new scam is signing up Medicare enrollees for services, regardless of medical necessity; however, promised monthly monitoring often never happens, but the enrollee is billed monthly anyway. OIG includes in its alert how to protect beneficiaries against these new scams.

Contact: Meg Everett, meverett@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8871