Home Health & Hospice Week

Keep in mind: You must pull the trigger on a reconsideration request quickly.

Don’t let a payment deduction for failing to fulfill HQRP duties take you by surprise.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “is providing notifications to hospices that were determined to be out of compliance with Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) requirements for calendar year (CY) 2020, which will affect their fiscal year (FY) 2022 Annual Payment Update (APU),” CMS says on its HQRP webpage. “Non-compliance notifications … were placed into hospices’ CASPER folders in QIES on July 14.”

The cost: Hospices that receive a letter of non-compliance will have a 2 percent reduction in 2022, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice notes in its member newsletter. Affected hospices should also get a notice from their Medicare Administrative Contractor about the non-compliance and deduction, if applicable, too, NAHC adds.

Don’t miss: If you believe CMS found you non-com­pliant in error, you can appeal — via email only — by Aug. 13. Reconsideration request instructions are at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Reconsideration-Requests.