Home Health & Hospice Week

No, it's not your fuzzy math that's making your OBQI numbers jump around - they really might have changed. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has refined the risk adjustment model for outcome-based quality improvement outcome reports, which contain 41 patient outcomes. National reference values for all outcomes in both the risk-adjusted and descriptive reports, the number of cases in the national reference sample at the top of both reports, and the number of eligible cases for each outcome will change as a result of a refinement implemented April 11. CMS also put in place a new risk-adjustment model in early March, so "national reference values on Risk-Adjusted reports requested before and after March 8 will not necessarily match," CMS advises on its OASIS Web site. Another item that might alter numbers is a monthly program "that incorporates late submissions, corrections and inactivations in the OBQM/I calculations," CMS explains. An agency with any of those items might see their calculations altered by them in subsequent reports. More information on the risk-adjustment changes is at www.cms.hhs.gov/oasis/obqi.asp. The U.S. Supreme Court refused April 28 to hear an appeal in a case in which a home health agency is suing an Internet company for "grading" it on its Web site, reports the Associated Press. That means the suit Northwest Healthcare Alliance, also known as Assured Home Health, brought against Healthgrades.com finally should proceed in Washington federal court. Jurisdictional wrangling has kept the case tied up since October 2000, with Assured seeking a Washington court venue and Healthgrades.com insisting upon a Colorado venue based on a user agreement on its Web site (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XI, No. 41, p. 332). Assured is suing the Internet company for defamation. The case is likely to set a precedent in In-ternet-based jurisdiction law, say legal experts. The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has shot down an appeal from a former home health aide who claims she was fired in 1992 based on age and national origin. A few questionable remarks from co-workers and/or supervisors that weren't related to the disciplinary reason St. Lukes Home Care Program in Puerto Rico fired Maria Zukowski don't prove the discrimination claim, the appeals court says in Zukowski vs. St. Luke's Home Care Program (No. 02-1887). Zukowski argued that a favorable decision on the matter from a local court, which St. Luke's allegedly concealed in federal court, should win her a reconsideration. The appeals court disagreed, noting the HHA cited the decision in its defense, and affirmed the lower court's ruling against Zukowski. In a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and Attorney General John Ashcroft, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) raises fears that the $880 [...]