Hospice Compare’s launch Aug. 16 confirms that, for the most part, hospices already perform well on the Hospice Item Set (HIS). But there’s still room for improvement on at least one measure — pain assessments.
 
The initial release of Hospice Compare includes individual hospices’ scores from seven assessment-based quality measures from the HIS: Treatment preferences; beliefs/values addressed (if desired by the patient); pain screening; pain assessment; dyspnea screening; dyspnea treatment; and patients treated with an opioid who are given a bowel regimen.
 
Hospices nationwide earned an average score of 93% or higher on each of those HIS measures except pain assessment. Pain assessment earned a score of 77.7%. (See scores, below.)
 
The initial release of Hospice Compare data include patient stays discharged from the fourth quarter of 2015 through the third quarter of 2016.
 
View Hospice Compare’s website at https://www.medicare.gov/hospicecompare/.
 
Hospice Compare measure
August 2017 score
Hospice and palliative care treatment preferences
98.3%
Beliefs and values addressed (if desired by the patient)
93.6%
Hospice and palliative care pain screening
93.9%
Hospice and palliative care pain assessment
77.7%
Hospice and palliative care dyspnea screening
97.3%
Hospice and palliative care dyspnea treatment
94.6%
Patient treated with an opioid who are given a bowel regimen
93.3%