Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS wants to double Medicare spending per beneficiary timeframe.

Don’t miss smaller but significant details in the 2019 HH PPS proposed rule.

For example: “We are proposing to … clarify that not all OASIS data … are needed for purposes of complying with the requirements of the [Home Health Quality Reporting Program],” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services says in the rule published in the July 12 Federal Register. “OASIS data items may be submitted for other established purposes unrelated to the HH QRP, including payment, survey, the HH VBP Model, or care planning. Any OASIS data that are not submitted for the purposes of the HH QRP are not used for purposes of HH QRP compliance.”

And: “We are proposing to increase the number of years of data used to calculate the [Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary]-PAC HH QRP for purposes of display from 1 year to 2 years,” CMS says in the rule. “Data on this measure would be publicly reported in CY 2019, or as soon thereafter as operationally feasible, based on discharges from CY 2016 and CY 2017.”

Increasing the calculation and public display periods from one to two years of data increases the number of HHAs with enough data for public reporting from 90.7 percent (based on Aug. 1, 2014 – July 31, 2015 claims data) to 94.9 percent (based on Aug. 1, 2014 – July 31, 2016 claims data), CMS notes.