To address concerns raised during pilot testing for its planned comprehensive hospice assessment tool, CMS has decided to delay further testing phases.
 
But CMS is working diligently to retool the Hospice Evaluation and Assessment Reporting Tool (HEART) and plans to hold quarterly special open door forums beginning in September in an attempt to solicit public comments.
 
During its July 11 open door forum, CMS provided detailed updates about HEART and also discussed the 2019 proposed PPS rule and changes to OASIS-D.
 
CMS plans to create HEART because it wants to “replace HIS and capture interim data with a hospice assessment instrument in order to bridge the gap to achieve a fuller understanding of patient care needs,” CMS’ website states.
 
During CMS’ forum, officials announced that it recently added a HEART webpage to the quality reporting website at https://go.cms.gov/2KMOl7X.
 
Officials also explained that a technical expert panel met last year about HEART. Read the panel’s report at https://go.cms.gov/2NKiYZN.
 
CMS schedules quality reporting training
 
CMS announced that it will hold two webinars on OASIS-D changes relevant to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program. The webinars are designed to help prepare home health providers for changes coming to the assessment and the program.
 
The first webinar will involve an overview of the OASIS-D changes related to the quality reporting program, while the second will focus on new quality measures and data collection items in connection with the new GG section within OASIS-D.
 
The first webinar will occur 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST Aug. 28.
 
The second webinar is scheduled for 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST Sept. 5.
 
Registration is limited to 1,500 attendees for each webinar.
 
Agencies can register for the webinars at https://go.cms.gov/2eA0xZn.
 
Agency leaders interested in having their name on a list to receive email notifications when a recorded version of the webinar is available should email PACTraining@econometricainc.com and ask to be placed on a notification list.
 
More from CMS’ open door forum
  • Proposed star ratings changes. Agencies have through July 26 to comment on CMS’ proposal to change quality of care star ratings by adding the measure “Improvement in management of oral medications” and removing the measure “Drug education on all medications provided to patient/caregiver during all episodes of care.” Read more details about the proposal at https://go.cms.gov/2xNBL2a and submit comments at HH_QM_Comment@abtassoc.com.
  • Proposed PPS rule released. CMS outlined the many items included within the 2019 proposed PPS rule, including the Patient-Driven Groupings Model.
  • Hospice billing update. CMS detailed billing changes for hospices including detailing MLN article SE 18007, “Recent and Upcoming Improvements in Hospice Billing and Claims Processing.” The June 7 article reminds hospices about changes CMS made in January. “We began to accept submission of notices of election via electronic data interchange,” a CMS official said during the forum. “We also allowed corrections to election and revocation dates using occurrence code 56 and condition code D0. The article provides more details about how to make these corrections than our original manual instruction, so I encourage providers to review it carefully.”
  • Hospice quality reporting webinars. CMS will hold two upcoming training sessions about hospice quality reporting. The first will be an Aug. 16 webinar called, “From data to measure.” It will discuss how CMS takes raw HIS data and calculates hospices’ performances on the HIS quality measures. The second webinar will be held Aug. 30 and be called, “Hospice quality reporting program primer.” Registration for both training sessions will open soon. Check CMS’ hospice quality reporting spotlight page at https://go.cms.gov/2gmMl7I for details.
  • Hospice Compare will be refreshed in August. That update will include Hospice CAHPS data from Oct. 1, 2015, through Sept. 30, 2017, and HIS data from Oct. 1, 2016, through Sept. 30, 2017.