Home Health & Hospice Week

Attend upcoming webinar for more info.

Hospices’ scores for the newest Hospice Compare measure are now on display for all to see.

Medicare has updated its Hospice Compare website, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services noted in a Dec. 4 message to providers. “In addition to the Hospice QRP measures that are currently displayed on Hospice Compare, the following new quality measures will be displayed with data collected Q2 2017 — Q4 2017: Hospice and Palliative Care Composite Process Measure — Comprehensive Assessment at Admission (NQF #3235),” CMS said in the message.

Reminder: The new measure streamlines the seven Hospice Item Set-based measures that comprise it: Treatment Preferences (NQF #1641); Beliefs/Values (NQF #1647); Pain Screening (NQF #1634); Pain Assessment (NQF #1637); Dyspnea Screening (NQF #1639); Dyspnea Treatment (NQF #1638); and Bowel Regimen (NQF #1617).

Users have the option to expand the composite measure to see the individual measure scores. Near the bottom of the page, the site offers users a chance to “View more information about the 7 measures that make up the HIS Comprehensive Assessment Measure.”

Hospices that would like to learn more about the measure now on display can consult a new resource from Medicare. The “Hospice Comprehensive Assessment QM Background and Methodology Fact Sheet … provides information on the background of this measure, how this measure is calculated, and how providers can use their CASPER QM reports to understand their hospice’s performance on this measure,” CMS notes.

Resource: The fact sheet is at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Current-Measures.html.

You can also tune in to a webinar on the new measure on Dec. 13. Registration for the session, which also covers the new 4.5-month data correction deadline, is at https://engage.vevent.com/index.
jsp ?eid=3536&seid=1296.