Home Health & Hospice Week

And what you cannot take with you when you switch users.

One huge pitfall concerning the Hospice Quality Reporting Program is deactivating a user account, which you must do if you’re changing to a different user.

"We do realize there are circumstances where it may become necessary to replace one registered user with another," states Robin Dowell, a nurse consultant for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Center for Clinical Standards and Quality, in a recent special Open Door Forum. "Therefore, the first user account must be deactivated in this circumstance. For these instances, there is a user deactivation process in place."

"This deactivation policy or process is for those circumstances where providers cannot control the fact that the first user must be deactivated," Dowell explains. "However, we strongly encourage providers to try to plan for the best scenario to get them through both submission reporting periods with one user account."

Why? If you deactivate your user account, the new user must reenter and resubmit all the data.

Switch Users After Deadline & Lose It All?

If you deactivate a user account before the submission deadline (Jan. 31 for Structural Measure and April 1 for Pain Measure), the new user can resubmit the data that the original user entered. But if you deactivate the account after the deadlines, "there is no ability to reenter or resubmit that data," Dowell warns.

Dowell states that CMS will give consideration to hospices that must request deactivation, due to circumstances beyond their control. But none of the ODF panelists describe specifically what that "consideration" might be.

 Good news:  Although the data created from the deactivated account won’t be viewable for you, whatever data you submitted is still viewable and retained by CMS, explains panelist Lori Grocholski with the CMS Division of National Systems.

Likewise, if you need to switch users at the end of the reporting period -- assigning a new user account for the next reporting period --- you won’t lose any data as long as you already submitted it, Dowell says. By then, your entry would have already counted towards your Annual Payment Update.

When You Absolutely Must Deactivate

If have no choice but to deactivate your user account to set up a new one, there is a deactivation process in place. First, you must obtain and complete a User Deactivation Request Form on your provider letterhead. You can get this form from the QTSO Helpdesk by calling 1-877-201-4721 or emailing help@qtso.com. (You can also use these contact methods for other technical help inquiries.)

After you’ve completed the form, send it back to the Helpdesk via email or fax to 1-888-477-7871.