Home Health & Hospice Week

Plus 4 measures dropped.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services also proposes these changes to the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing program in the 2017 HH PPS proposed rule:

• Remove four of the 24 measures from VBP: (1) Care Management: Types and Sources of Assistance; (2) Prior Functioning ADL/IADL; (3) Influenza Vaccine Data Collection Period: Does this episode of care include any dates on or between October 1 and March 31?; and (4) Reason Pneumococcal Vaccine Not Received.

“These process measures did not have true quality indicators around them and this change will allow our members to prepare and focus their quality improvement efforts on the other 17 measures,” says the Visiting Nurse Associations of America.

• Require annual, rather than quarterly, reporting for “Influenza Vaccination Coverage for Home Health Personnel.” Reporting will take place in April, after the flu season window/reporting period of Oct. 1 – March 31.
• Increase the timeframe for submitting New Measure data from seven calendar days to 15 calendar days following the end of each reporting period to account for weekends and holidays.
• Implement a VBP appeals process that includes the existing period to review and request recalculation of both the Interim Performance Reports and the Annual TPS and Payment Adjustment Reports and a reconsideration request process for the Annual TPS and Payment Adjustment Report only.