Home Health & Hospice Week

No quarterly performance reports for non-VBP agencies.

Home health agencies in the nine Value-Based Purchasing states are in the thick of VBP implementation, but agencies outside those states must largely sit on the sidelines.

Question #1: “Can my Agency set up to start reporting on the New Measures if we are not in one of the nine mandated states for Value-Based Purchasing?” an HHA asks in a newly released set of questionsand-answers on the program.

Answer #1: “At this time, only Medicare-certified HHAs that provide services in one of the nine selected states will be reporting data on the New Measures,” responds the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Question #2: Another agency asks “I am not in one of the participating states; however, we would like to start the process. Can we register in the EIDM system? Is there any benefit to doing so?”

Answer #2: With an Enterprise Identity Management User ID, VBP agencies can access the Innovation Center Portal and then the HHVBP Secure Portal, where they will submit New Measure data and view quarterly and annual performance reports and annual payment adjustment reports, CMS notes. “Any HHA is able to register in the EIDM system,” CMS says. “However, HHAs in states not selected to be in the Model will not need or be granted access to the HHVBP Secure Portal or HHVBP Connect.” HHVBP Connect is a collaboration site that will contain learning session webinar recordings, supporting materials, newsletters, FAQs, and a chat function that will allow HHAs to share, according to CMS’s Dec. 17 webinar on the VBP program. CMS will send guidance on obtaining access to HHVBP Connect to agencies’ registered points of contact (POCs) when the site is available, CMS said.

In other words: Agencies not in VBP areas won’t be able to access performance reports for their agencies such as those provided to agencies in VBP states, CMS says in the Q&A.