Eli's Hospice Insider

If the recent changes to Medicare’s Hospice Compare website have left you confused, you have some new resources to help clear things up.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued a five-question-and-answer set on the topic at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Downloads/Hospice-Compare-May-2019-Refresh-Question-and-Answer.pdf and a three-page fact sheet about the changes at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Downloads/Hospice-Compare-May-2019-Refresh-Fact-Sheet.pdf. 

For example: Three data sources now contribute to the zip code search function, CMS explains in the fact sheet — Hospice Item Set (HIS) data, Medicare claims, and U.S. Census Bureau data.

Hospices have until July 1 to peruse their preview reports for both HIS and CAHPS data, CMS says in a message to providers.