Home Health & Hospice Week

Missing out on the patient satisfaction survey requirement now means taking a 2 percent reimbursement hit later. Time is running out for you to complete your CAHPS practice session -- and avoid related financial penalties. Home health agencies must complete a "dry run" for the Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems during the third quarter of 2010, which includes July, August,  and September, said the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services in its July 7 Open Door Forum for home care providers. Data collected must be submitted to CMS by January. Routine CAHPS data collection will begin in October. Background: HHAs that participate in the CAHPS program must contract with a third party vendor to conduct patient satisfaction surveys that include 34 core required questions and nine optional ones. Agencies may also add their own unique questions to the tool. Providers must strive to obtain 300 survey completions [...]