The 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule is still awaiting key final review before release. But documents published by CMS online suggest at least a few of the changes the industry could expect in the rule.
 
In a document titled “HHA: Calendar Year CY 2025,” CMS notes that the 2024 proposed rule would include the addition of a new OASIS item: Patient’s COVID-19 vaccination is up to date.
 
The responses would be “0. No, patient is not up to date” or “1. Yes, patient is up to date.” A similar question would be included in patient evaluations at other PAC settings.
 
A separate specifications report published on the CMS website lays out the justification for the new item.
 
“The elderly population has been especially affected by the virus and is more likely to experience serious health outcomes from COVID-19 infection. Given the demonstrated positive impact of COVID-19 vaccination, PAC providers are in a unique position to leverage their care processes to address vaccination coverage in these settings,” according to CMS contractor Abt Associates.
 
This measure would use information from the OASIS to obtain raw rates of the number of home health quality episodes in which patients were up to date with their COVID-19 vaccination, the report notes.
 
“Home Health agencies would be able to use all sources of information available to obtain the vaccination data, such as patient interviews, medical records, proxy response and vaccination cards provided by the patient/caregivers,” it states.
 
The CMS document noting changes in the 2025 OASIS also referenced three items that are expected to be targeted for removal via the 2024 proposed rule:
  • M0110 — Episode Timing (at SOC/ROC)
  • M2200 — Therapy Need (at SOC/ROC)
  • GG0130 — Discharge Goal (at discharge)
A technical report published by CMS and Abt Associates dives deep into another new potential quality measure: Discharge Function Score.
 
“The Discharge Function Score calculates the percent of HH patients who achieve a risk-adjusted expected function score at discharge,” according to the report. “Functional status is measured through Section GG of OASIS assessments, which evaluates a patient’s capacity to perform daily activities related to self-care (GG0130) and mobility (GG0170).”
 
See the CMS reports by clicking on the titles below: