Eli's Hospice Insider

Your delayed data is now up on Compare.

A problem with how Medicare's Hospice Compare website is functioning may mean potential patients and referral sources can't find you.

"The location search on Hospice Compare may return incorrect results," the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services acknowledges in a message to providers. "As a result, we have provided a message on the home page of Hospice Compare informing users that when searching by location, the list of agencies provided may not serve the zip code, city, or state they entered. The message also recommends that consumers call hospice providers to confirm their service areas."

Sit tight: "We are currently working to improve the search functionality and will update the website as soon as possible," CMS pledges, thanking providers for their patience.

For hospices that find their demographic data is incorrect, CMS has issued a how-to sheet on correcting that information.

Warning: "Updates to Hospice Provider demographic information do not happen in real-time and take approximately 6-months to appear on Hospice Compare," CMS says in the sheet. See CMS's advice at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Downloads/How-to-Update-Hospice-Demographic-Data-111417.pdf.

However, CMS has fixed the problem that caused the November Hospice Compare data refresh to be delayed.

"The December 2017 quarterly Hospice Compare refresh is available based on discharges from the first through fourth quarters of 2016," the agency said in a message to providers. The site updated Dec. 12.