Home Health & Hospice Week

The clock is ticking if you received a notice that you won't get your full reimbursement in 2012 due to failure to submit CAHPS data.

You have 30 days to file for a reconsideration of that decision, if you did indeed submit data but the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services does not have you recorded as doing so. The 30-day deadline starts upon receipt of the letter from the Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) telling agencies they will receive 2 percent less in 2012 due to failing to comply with the Home Health CAHPS data submission requirements, CAHPS vendor RTI says on the HHCAHPS website.

Do this: HHAs should follow the instructions in the letter to file a reconsideration request, RTI advises. If an agency asks its vendor to submit verification that the vendor collected and submitted data during the required timeframe, "the HHCAHPS survey vendor should provide information about the data that they collected and submitted to the HH CAHPS Data Center on behalf of the affected HHA," RTI instructs in an e-mail message to vendors.

Remember, to fulfill the CAHPS requirement, "HHAs must have registered for credentials to access the CAHPS site, secured an approved CAHPS vendor, conducted a dry run of the HH CAHPS survey for at least one month in the third quarter of 2010 and implemented the HHCAHPS Survey on an ongoing basis starting in October 2010," the National Association for Home Care & Hospice reminds its members. Agencies can qualify for exemptions, but must have followed the exemption filing protocol.

CMS ultimately will make the decision on the reconsiderations, not the HHCAHPS coordination team, RTI reminds providers and vendors.

More information is at www.homehealthcahps.org.