Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus: HOPE tool, HIS benchmark addressed in forum.

Medicare is pushing its Medicare Advantage hospice carve-in plan under the Value-Based Insur- ance Design model.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services will hold a webinar going over the VBID model, which will include hospice and related services, in the next few weeks, said a CMS staffer in the Jan. 8 Open Door Forum for home health and hospice providers.

Including hospice in MA plan coverage is the “next step,” the CMS source said, noting that the “main goal” is a “seamless continuum of care.”

Medicare has “received significant interest” in the model, she added.

Other hospice topics addressed in the forum include:

• HOPE. The report from the Technical Expert Panel meeting in November on the Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation tool should be published in “the next few months,” a CMS official said in the forum.

You can consult two HOPE education tools posted in December, a one-page “fundamentals” sheet and a three-page Frequently Asked Question Sheet, at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives- Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/HOPE — scroll down to the “Downloads” section.

• Quality data requirements. Don’t forget that in 2020, you must submit at least 90 percent of your Hospice Item Set records on time (within 30 days of the patient’s admission or discharge date) to receive a full payment update in 2022, a CMS staffer reminded forum attendees.

You also need to submit CAHPS survey data on a monthly basis, via your vendor, to receive a full update. A vendor must submit your data for you, unless you file and qualify for a size-based exemption.