Home Health QRP Spotlight and Announcements

Home Health QRP Spotlight and Announcements

Now available! Our new Provider Data Catalog makes it easier for you to search & download our publicly reported data. We’ve also improved Medicare’s Compare sites.

About this Page

The page provides recent news and updates pertinent to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program. On this page, you will find announcements about posting resource guides and fact sheets, the availability of Q&A documents, and information about Home Health Compare, among other notifications. Questions about home health quality measures, including the Quality of Patient Care star ratings, can be sent to HomeHealthQualityQuestions@cms.hhs.gov. For any other questions, please see the Home Health Quality Reporting Program Help Desks webpage to identify the correct contact email and/or phone number.

Find program guidance and information about our response to COVID-19 here: COVID-19 Updates.

Updates

January 19, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Document and Methodology Report for the Post-Acute Care Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports

In October 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released two Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports to post-acute care (PAC) providers: the Discharge to Community (DTC) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report.

To answer frequently asked questions and to provide methodological information about these reports, CMS released the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Document and the Methodology Report. The materials can be access through these links:

January 18, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE- The updated Guide to Home Health Help Desks is available in the Downloads section of the Home Health Quality Reporting Program Help Desks webpage:

https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/home-health/home-health-quality-reporting-program-help-desks

January 16, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE- Updated Quarterly OASIS Q&As

January 2024 CMS OASIS Quarterly Q&A’s are available in the OASIS Quarterly Q&As section of the CMS  webpage, https://qtso.cms.gov/providers/home-health-agency-hha-providers/reference-manuals.

January 10, 2024

NOW AVAILABLE IN iQIES - Preview Reports and Star Rating Preview Reports for the April 2024 Refresh

For this refresh, Home Health (HH) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) measures have been updated.

For additional information, please see the HH Quality Reporting Training webpage and the Home Health Data Submission Deadlines webpage.

January 2, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE- Draft OASIS-E1 All Items Instrument

The draft OASIS-E1 All Items instrument, scheduled for an effective date of January 1, 2025, is available in the Downloads section on the OASIS Data Sets page. The accompanying OASIS-E1 Manual will be released at a later date.

December 15, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports Live Q&A Materials

On November 16, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted a live Q&A session about the CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports for post-acute care (PAC) providers in the Home Health (HH), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH), and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) settings, which were released in October 2023. The PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports stratified the Discharge to Community and Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary measures by dual-enrollment status and race/ethnicity.

The live Q&A session gave participants an opportunity to ask CMS subject matter experts about the report’s methodologies and interpretations.

The webinar’s recording, slides, and transcript can be found at the Training webpage for HHIRFLTCH, and SNF.

December 13, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: Confusion Assessment Method (CAM©) Video Tutorial

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a video tutorial for the assessment of C1310. Signs and Symptoms of Delirium taken from the Confusion Assessment Method (CAM©) which is now collected on the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)-E. This training asset demonstrates a cognitive assessment used to code the items within C1310. 

This resource can be accessed through the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Training page.

November 7, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE- Updated OASIS-E Manual and updated CMS OASIS Q&As

The 2024 Update to the Outcome and Assessment Information Set Version E O(ASIS-E) Manual, and the associated Change Table, are available in the Downloads section on the OASIS Users Manuals page. There are no changes to the OASIS-E instrument.

Updated Static Q&As effective 10/2023 are available in the OASIS-E Q&As section of the CMS QTSO webpage.

The changes incorporate guidance into the manual and Q&As from the CMS Quarterly Q&As dated July 2022 through October 2023.

November 3, 2023

The calendar year 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System Final Rule was published on November 02, 2023. The following are the Home Health Quality Reporting Program proposals that have been finalized: CMS finalized the addition of two quality measures to the HH QRP: the COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date and the Discharge Function measures; the removal of two Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)-based data elements: M0110-Episode Timing and M2200-Therapy Need; the codification of the previously finalized 90 percent OASIS data completion threshold policy in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR); and the public reporting of four measures: Transfer of Health (TOH) Information to the Provider-Post-Acute Care(PAC), TOH Information to the Patient-PAC, HH QRP COVID-19 Vaccine: Percent of Patients/Residents Who Are Up to Date, and the Discharge Function measures. CMS also summarized feedback on its request for information on future HH QRP measure concepts and an update on health equity in the HH QRP. The rule can be accessed at: https://www.federalregister.gov/public-inspection/2023-24455/medicare-program-calendar-year-2024-home-health-prospective-payment-system-rate-update-quality.
 

October 25, 2023

Care Compare Quarterly Refresh – October 2023

The October 2023 quarterly refresh for the Home Health Quality Reporting Program is now available on Care Compare. For this refresh, Home Health (HH) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) will be based on the standard number of quarters. The HH QRP claims-based measures have been updated for this refresh and, with the exception of PPR, are now based on the standard number of quarters.

For additional information on the COVID-19 public health emergency’s impact on public reporting, please see the HH QRP COVID-19 Public Reporting Tip Sheet in the downloads section of the HH Quality Reporting Training webpage and the FY 2022 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Update Final Rule (HH Rider).

The October 2023 refresh will add a new claims-based measure for public reporting:

  • Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations (PPH)

The refresh will also remove an OASIS measure from public reporting:

  • Drug education on all medications provided to patient/caregiver

October 16, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE: CMS Post-Acute Care Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports with Online Webinar and Fact Sheet

As part of our commitment to advance health equity and strengthen the Medicare Program, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have released two Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports to post-acute care (PAC) providers: the Discharge to Community (DTC) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report. To provide insight on outcome differences across social risk factors, the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports stratify these two PAC Quality Reporting Program measure outcomes by Medicare-Medicaid dual-enrollment status (duals and non-duals), as well as patient race/ethnicity (Non-White and White patients). This data is meant to provide feedback to providers about their performance for certain populations who may have been historically disadvantaged. These reports are educational for providers, and to identify opportunities for providers to focus their internal quality improvement initiatives to provide all individuals their best opportunity to achieve their best potential health outcomes.

CMS released the PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports through the Internet Quality Improvement & Evaluation System (iQIES) reports folders. To locate your Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports in iQIES, please follow the instructions listed below:

  1. Log into iQIES using your Health Care Quality Information Systems (HCQIS) Access Roles and Profile (HARP) user ID and password. If you do not have a HARP account, you may register for a HARP ID.
  2. From the Reports menu, select My Reports.
  3. From the My Reports page, locate and select the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports folder link.
  4. Displayed for you is a list of reports available for download.
  5. Select the report name link to view the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report data

Additionally, CMS posted an Online Webinar recording with slides, transcript, and Fact Sheet providing an overview of the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports on each of the following PAC pages:

October 12, 2023

Home Health Quality Reporting Program: Non-Compliance Notifications

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is providing notifications to home health agencies that were determined to be out of compliance with the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HHQRP) requirements for calendar year (CY) 2022, which will affect their calendar year (CY) 2024 Annual Payment Update (APU). Non-compliance notifications will be distributed by the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) and will be placed into Home Health Agencies (HHA) My Reports folders in iQIES around October 6, 2023. HHA’s that receive a letter of non-compliance may submit a request for reconsideration to CMS via email no later than 11:59 pm, November 13, 2023. If you receive a notice of non-compliance and would like to request a reconsideration, see the instructions in your notification and on the Home Health Quality Reporting Reconsideration and Exception & Extension webpage.

Please note: Any reconsideration containing protected health information (PHI) will not be processed. All PHI must be removed in order for a reconsideration to be reviewed.

October 5, 2023

NOW AVAILABLE IN iQIES - Preview Reports and Star Rating Preview Reports for the January 2024 Refresh

For this refresh, Home Health (HH) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) and all HH Quality Reporting Program (QRP) claims-based measures have been updated and are now based on the standard number of quarters.

For additional information, please see the HH Quality Reporting Training webpage and the Home Health Data Submission Deadlines webpage.

September 26, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: BIMS and BIMS Summary Score Explainer Video

A brief explainer video, BIMS and BIMS Summary Score: Stopping and Coding an Incomplete Interview is now available for HH Providers. This resource can be accessed through the Home Health Quality Reporting Training webpage.

September 22, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: Understanding Coding for N0415 Explainer Video

A brief explainer video, Understanding Coding for N0415. High-Risk Drug Classes: Use and Indication is now available for HH Providers. This resource can be accessed through the Home Health Quality Reporting Training webpage.

September 15, 2023

COMING SOON: CMS Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports

Next month, The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will release two new Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports to post-acute care (PAC) providers in the Home Health (HH), Inpatient Rehabilitation Facility (IRF), Long-Term Care Hospital (LTCH), and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) settings: the Discharge to Community (DTC) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report and the Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary (MSPB) Health Equity Confidential Feedback Report. The PAC Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports will stratify the DTC and MSPB measures by dual-enrollment status and race/ethnicity.

An educational webinar recording and fact sheet providing an overview of the Health Equity Confidential Feedback Reports will also be released next month.

August 8, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: Social Determinants of Health Items Explainer Video

A brief explainer video, Social Determinants of Health Items: Determining When a Proxy Response is Allowed is now available for HH Providers. This resource can be accessed through the Home Health Quality Reporting Training webpage.

July 14, 2023

NEW RESOURCE AVAILABLE: BIMS Video Tutorial

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) is offering a new video tutorial for the Brief Interview for Mental Status (BIMS) which is now collected on the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS)-E. This training asset demonstrates the BIMS interview and associated coding.

This resource can be accessed through the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (QRP) Training page.

May 24, 2023

Home Health & Hospice Health Equity Technical Expert Panel Report

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has released the Home Health & Hospice Health Equity Technical Expert Panel (TEP) Report. This report provides a summary of the TEP’s input on options for health equity measurement in the home health and hospice care settings. Specific topics include: health equity in hospice and home health, social determinants of health, disparities in access to care and quality of care, and health equity measurement and monitoring.

The Home Health & Hospice Health Equity TEP Report is available in the “Related Links” section of the Home Health QRP Health Equity webpage.

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Page Last Modified:
03/20/2024 11:46 AM