Eli's Hospice Insider

Are you at the 70 percent mark or higher?

Check your new quarterly Quality Assessment Only (QAO) Interim Report in your CASPER folder to see how you’re faring in the requirement to submit 70 percent of OASIS assessments on time.

Reminder: In the 2015 home health prospective payment system final rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services specified that HHAs must successfully submit an OASIS record for 70 percent of episodes qualifying as a “quality episode of care,” according to the rule published in the Nov. 6, 2014 Federal Register.

Agencies that fail to meet the QAO standard in the July 2015-to-June 2016 time period will face a 2 percent pay reduction in 2017, CMS reminds in a new notice to providers.

Resources: A recording and materials from a May 10 Medicare webinar on HIS submission and more Home Health Quality Reporting Program details will be posted to the CMS YouTube and CMS Hospice Quality Reporting Program websites, the agency says. More information on the QAO requirement is at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HomeHealthQualityInits/HHQISpotlight.html.