Home Health & Hospice Week

Transfer patients get a double helping of data under the new Hospice Item Set system.

“Since a HIS-Admission and a HIS-Dis-charge must be completed for each patient admission (not each patient admitted) … both hospices are responsible for completing and submitting a HIS-Admission and a HIS-Discharge for [a transfer] pa-tient,” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Ser-vices says in its most recent round of questions-and-answers on the data collection tool.

“If a patient transfers hospices, the first hospice agency should complete a HIS-Admission record within 14 days of the admission date and submit the record within 30 days of the submission date,” CMS explains. “The first hospice should also complete a HIS-Discharge record within seven days of the date of discharge and submit the record within 30 days of discharge.

Meanwhile: “The second hospice agency would also collect and submit a HIS-Admission and HIS-Discharge on the patient within the same timeframes,” CMS instructs. See the rest of the 13 HIS Q&As at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Downloads/April-2014-Q_A-Document-FINAL.pdf.