Home Health & Hospice Week

Keys wasn’t willing to say whether CMS plans to implement the tool in 2025 or 2026, as the attendee asked. But she did hint the latter might be more likely. “We did hear stakeholders in reference to making sure that they had enough lead time,” she said.

Other hospice topics addressed in the forum include:

• APU reconsiderations. The annual payment update reconsideration request period for hospices closed on Aug. 18, Keys noted in the forum.

Reminder: Beginning Oct. 1, CMS will dock your pay 4 percent if you don’t comply with Hospice Quality Reporting Program data submission requirements.

If you submitted an appeal, “CMS will notify hospices of the agency’s decision on all reconsideration requests before Oct. 1,” Keys indicated.

• Care Compare. CMS refreshed hospices’ Care Compare data on Aug. 30, and preview reports for the November update are now out, Keys said.
• Ownership status. If your ownership info is showing up incorrectly, you’re not alone. A number of providers have had this problem, CMS indicated in the forum.

A hospice asked for help after trying for six months to get its ownership status to correctly display as nonprofit, according to an attendee in the Zoom call’s Q&A session. Consulting with PECOS, Medicare Administrative Contractor, and QIES contacts hasn’t resolved the inaccuracy.

“Some providers have seen their status corrected,” Keys acknowledged. “And other providers are still kind of waiting.” Keys directed the provider to the HospiceQualityQuestions@ cms.hhs.gov email address for further help.