Eli's Hospice Insider

Will ‘HIS’ data set become hospices’ OASIS?

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants hospices to collect and report data on these seven National Quality Forum-approved measures starting in 2014, the agency says in its 2014 hospice payment proposed rule published in the May 10 Federal Register:

• NQF #1617 Patients Treated with an Opioid who are Given a Bowel Regimen
• NQF #1634 Pain Screening
• NQF #1637 Pain Assessment
• NQF #1638 Dyspnea Treatment
• NQF #1639 Dyspnea Screening
• NQF #1641 Treatment Preferences
• NQF #1647 Beliefs/Values Addressed

CMS’s newly proposed Hospice Item Set includes 27 items at admission and 13 questions at discharge (including the signature of the person verifying record completion), according to a Paperwork Reduction Act package released after the final rule. It will take hospices 19 minutes to complete the admission HIS and 10 minutes for the discharge HIS, CMS estimates in its PRA paperwork.

Problem: “The calculation for NQF #1647 [Beliefs/Values Addressed] requires the extraction of medical record documentation of events that can occur at any time during the patient’s stay in hospice,” notes the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. But the proposed discharge form doesn’t include a question about the topic.

Resource: The Paperwork Reduction Act packet of materials on the HIS tool, which contains the admission form, discharge form, item descriptions, and burden estimates, is at www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/PaperworkReductionActof1995/PRA-Listing.html — scroll down to the April 29 listing for “Hospice Item Set.”

For a copy of the admission and discharge forms and direct link to the package, e-mail editor Rebecca Johnson at rebeccaj@eliresearch.com with “HIS forms” in the subject line.