Home Health & Hospice Week

Mark your calendars for upcoming HHVBP education session.

Home health agencies in the nine Value-Based Purchasing states have a lot of questions about the program, but unfortunately not a lot of answers, even though the model begins in six weeks.

A number of callers in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Nov. 4 Open Door Forum

for home care providers asked technical questions about the program and its calculations. CMS’s Rob Flemming mostly told HHA reps to stay tuned for a question-and-answer set, to tune into a Dec. 2 VBP webinar, or to submit questions to HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov. Flemming did point out that in the final rule, CMS increased the preview time for VBP reports from 10 days to 30 days. That will allow participating agencies a “greater opportunity to challenge any performance reports,” he told forum attendees.

Do this: HHAs in VBP states should establish their HHVBP point of contact and establish a user account for the new portal for the program, Flemming advised. Links for doing so are on the HHVBP web page at https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/home-health-value-based-purchasing-model. CMS will post information such as the Q&As and webinar info on the site.

Question: One representative from a small agency asked how her agency would stack up against much bigger competitors. The agency doesn’t generate enough episodes to generate a star rating.

Answer: Such agencies are not eligible for VBP rewards or penalties. “If you don’t have enough cases, you would not be risking any payment adjustment on the negative side, nor will you have the opportunity to gain any upward payment adjustment,” Flemming explained. But those agencies still will have access to all of the program’s educational materials and resources, so they can work on improving their performance.

That would help them in the event that they grow large enough to qualify for VBP adjustments, he noted.