DOH Requests NHQI Comments by Dec. 18th
We remind members to review their home-specific results of the 2015 Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI) that the Department of Health (DOH) recently released. The DOH announcement message is copied below and the Dear Administrator letter that provides instructions on accessing your home’s score sheet is available here. Please note that while the first page of the quality report is similar to previous years, two additional pages provide informational data on staff turnover and staffing level measures that DOH is contemplating adding to the NHQI in future years.
Please review your results and contact DOH with questions and comments which are requested by Dec. 18th.
We will let members know when 2015 NHQI rate adjustment amounts become available. While NHQI rate adjustment amounts for the 2013 and 2014 payment years are listed on the benchmark rate lists posted on the DOH website (2014 on the Jan. 2015 benchmark rate list; 2014 on the July 2014 rate list accessible by clicking on “Historical Benchmark Rates”), the actual adjustment to Medicaid rates remains on hold pending resolution of litigation challenging the NHQI.
Contact: Darius Kirstein, dkirstein@leadingageny.org, 518-867-8841
-----------------------------
From: NYSDOH HEALTH NOTIFICATION
The results of the 2015 New York State Nursing Home Quality Initiative (NHQI) have been posted to the Health Commerce System (HCS) for feedback, and we are pleased to share with you your facility's performance.
The following types of facilities are excluded from the NHQI and will not have a report posted on the HCS: Non-Medicaid facilities, CMS-designated Special Focus Facilities, Specialty Facilities, Continuing Care Retirement Communities, and Transitional Care Units.
The attached document contains the Dear Administrator letter followed by the methodology for the 2015 NHQI (pages 3-10), instructions for interpreting your facility's 2015 NHQI results (pages 11-14), and the methodologies and instructions for interpreting the two new benchmarking staffing measures (pages 15-22).
If there are any questions about the 2015 NHQI, please email us at NHQP@health.ny.gov. We request that nursing homes provide feedback by December 18, 2015.
In the near future, the Department will release the results on its website (http://www.health.ny.gov/health_care/medicaid/redesign/nursing_home_quality_initiative.htm) and will make the dataset available on Health Data NY.
Thank you