Eli's Hospice Insider

Just because the new HOPE assessment tool has been long in the making, doesn’t mean it will never arrive.

The draft Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation instrument is in its final phase of testing, a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official confirmed in the agency’s Sept. 21 Open Door Forum for home health and hospice agencies. CMS has been recruiting hospices for the ultimate beta testing phase through this month, announcing on Sept. 6 it still had “new openings” for hospice beta testers.

After data collection is complete from the testing, a team will analyze that data and collect feedback from the participating hospices for the final version and implementation, the CMS staffer told forum attendees.

Other hospice issues addressed in the forum include:

Care Compare: Don’t forget the next Hospice Care Compare refresh is coming in November. Hospices received their preview reports for the update on Aug. 17, a CMS official reviewed. The comparison website is still skipping over data from the first two quarters of the COVID-19 public health emergency, she explained.

Tip: CMS encourages providers to download and save their preview reports, because they are gone after 60 days in CASPER, the speaker advised.

New versions of HQRP documents: You can access an updated Third Edition HQRP Public Reporting Tip Sheet and HQRP Acronym List at the HQRP webpage www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/hospice-quality-reporting/spotlight — scroll down to the Sept. 14 entries.

The newest Tip Sheet version helps “providers understand public reporting for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program in the midst of the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE),” CMS says in a separate announcement.

The Acronym List includes “acronyms commonly used throughout HQRP training materials and presentations,” CMS says in a message to providers.