We used 3 quarters of HH QRP data from CY 2019 for the all-cause hospitalization and emergency department use claims-based measures and 6 quarters of data from HH QRP CY 2018 and CY 2019 were used for both the Medicare spending per beneficiary and discharge to community claims-based measures. [4] Any reduction based on failure to comply with the reporting requirements, as required by section 1814(i)(5)(B) of the Act, would apply only for the specified year. In general, OMB issues major revisions to statistical areas every 10 years, based on the results of the decennial census. [FR Doc. We respectfully disagree that having the seven HIS measures listed is more transparent and understandable for consumers than a concise summary: Market research conducted by our teams has found that less is more for Care Compare consumers, who become overwhelmed by too much information. Until the ACFR grants it official status, the XML L. 96-354), section 1102(b) of the Social Security Act, section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (March 22, 1995; Pub. Effective Federal Fiscal Year 2023 (October 1 - September 30), there were no counties that changed their status, CBSA name and/or CBSA number. As provided at section 1895(b)(3)(B)(vi) of the Act, depending on the market basket percentage increase applicable for a particular year, the reduction of that increase by 2 percentage points for failure to comply with the requirements of the HH QRP and further reduction of the increase by the productivity adjustment (except in 2018 and 2020) described in section 1886(b)(3)(B)(xi)(II) of the Act may result in the home health market basket percentage increase being less than 0.0 percent for a year, and may result in payment rates under the Home Health PPS for a year being less than payment rates for the preceding year. A service intensity add-on payment will be made for the social worker visits and nursing visits provided by a registered nurse (RN), when provided during routine home care in the last 7 days of life. Applications are available at the, Applicable Federal Acquisition Regulation Clauses (FARS)\Department of Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement (DFARS) Restrictions Apply to Government use. The intent was to provide an illustrative example so hospices can modify and develop their own forms to meet the content requirements. The analysis found that 82.8 percent of providers' scores changed by, at most, one point over the 2 years. Final Rule Action: We are finalizing as proposed at 418.76(c)(1) our policy that hospices may conduct competency testing by observing an aide's Start Printed Page 42552performance of the task with a patient or pseudo-patient. Specifically, for HOPE-based measure development, the TEP focused on pain and other symptom outcome measure concepts that could be calculated from HOPE. For the last six years, Medicare's Hospice Compare has served as the cornerstone for publicizing quality care information for patients, family caregivers, consumers, and the healthcare community. The commenters stated that the proposed rule indicates Start Printed Page 42538that 20 percent of IRC and 28 percent of GIP providers were included in the calculation. Additionally, we assume that days billed as GIP (revenue code 0656) will include skilled nursing visits. Due to aggressive automated scraping of FederalRegister.gov and eCFR.gov, programmatic access to these sites is limited to access to our extensive developer APIs. Like HIS, our goal is to report as much of the most recent CAHPS Hospice Survey data as possible, to display data for as many hospices as possible, and to maintain the reliability of the data. Our regulations at 418.306(c) require each labor market to be established using the most current hospital wage data available, including any changes made by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to the Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) definitions. Comment: A commenter suggested that CMS should not use claims data from a time period before a measure is finalized through rulemaking. April 13, 2018. https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/2018Downloads/R3P243.pdf. Specifically, one commenter stated that when the cost report was revised in 2014, some industry experts recommended that CMS develop two separate worksheets for IRC and GIC. As finalized in the FY 2019 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Update final rule (83 FR 38622), we also improved access to publicly-available information about hospices' compliance with Hospice QRP requirements. Their salaries and benefits must also be captured in the methodology. Addition of a Claims-Based Index Measure, the Hospice Care Index, b. For FY 2022, two of the four measures we proposed to add were claims-based measures which do not increase burden to providers. To learn more about the background of the HCI, please watch this video: https://youtu.be/by68E9E2cZc. The commenter stated that that hospices in Montgomery County should be reimbursed at the Start Printed Page 42541same level as hospices in the Washington, DC area because Montgomery County has a similar cost of living and cost of doing business compared to Washington, DC and shares the same labor market when competing for labor. This approach to include key aspects of demographics supports hospice feedback provided in the FYs 2017 and 2018 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update final rule (81 FR 52171 and 82 FR 36669) and CMS' goals for a hospice assessment instrument, as stated in the FY 2018 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update final rule. 19(6):681-687. doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2013-0457. This Agreement will terminate upon notice if you violate its terms. This repetition of headings to form internal navigation links Table 13 displays the original schedule for public reporting prior to the COVID-19 PHE. 04/28/2023, 39 The presence of revenue code 0656 (GIP) on the hospice claim. We encourage hospices to use this website at: https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Hospice-Quality-Reporting-Training-Training-and-Education-Library. Medicare Hospice: Use of General lnpatient Care. We will take into consideration the option of starting the stars display when all data will be after the COVID-exempted quarters. We disagree with commenters that notices should be posted on Care Compare regarding the inclusion of data from the COVID-19 PHE as such notice would not help consumers distinguish between hospices in their region. The HCI indicators will be available by visiting the Provider Data Catalog at https://data.cms.gov/provider-data/topics/hospice-care. Commenters thanked CMS for these regulatory changes, stating that these clarifications will facilitate administration of the addendum and reduce hospice burden. The intention in doing so is to provide a simple, easy to understand, method for summarizing CAHPS scores. If we were to provide preview data a year in advance, the publicly reported data would be too old to be a meaningful reflection of the hospice's performance. Denominator: The total number of RHC days provided by a hospice within a reporting period. Note that with the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (hereafter referred to as CAA 2021) (Pub. to the courts under 44 U.S.C. The HIS is a standardized set of items intended to capture patient-level data. HOPE items assessing Symptom Impact, and Patient Desired Tolerance Level for Symptoms or Patient Preferences for Symptom Management were used to calculate this measure. We did note that we understand that some beneficiaries or representatives may request an emailed addendum or request more time to review the addendum before signing, in which case the date that the hospice furnished the addendum to the beneficiary (or representative) may differ from the date that the beneficiary or representative signs the addendum. Medicare Hospice Payment Rate Update for Fiscal Year 2022 Under the final rule, the hospices would see a 2.0 percent increase ($480 million) in their payments for FY 2022 relative to FY 2021. The day occurs during the last sevendays of the patient's life, and the patient is discharged. Additionally, during the summer of 2020, CMS convened five listening sessions with national hospice provider organizations to discuss the HCI concept with the goals of engaging stakeholders and receiving feedback early in the measure's development. This means that hospice providers must furnish the addendum to the beneficiary or representative on or before the third day after the date of the request. We conducted analyses of those data to ensure that their use was appropriate. They encouraged HHS to continue pursuing adoption of FHIR APIs for health IT vendors. Several commenters stated that basing the hospice labor shares on recent MCR data for hospice providers will improve payment accuracy. The FY 2022 rates for hospices that do not submit the required quality data would be updated by the FY 2022 hospice payment update percentage of 2.0 percent minus 2 percentage points. A higher value in these scores indicates that HIS Comprehensive Assessment Measure values are relatively consistent for patients admitted to the same hospice and variation in the measure reflects true differences across providers. We also Start Printed Page 42604recognize that different types of entities are in many cases affected by mutually exclusive sections of the final rule, and therefore, for the purposes of our estimate we assume that each reviewer reads approximately 50 percent of the rule. Numerator: The total number of CHC or GIP services days provided by the hospice within a reporting period. They note that other star ratings use a 0-100 linear-scaled score. Live discharges occur when the patient discharge status code does not equal a value from the following list: 30, 40, 41, 42, 50, 51. Subject areas specified under paragraphs (b)(3)(i), (iii), (ix), (x), and (xi) of this section must be evaluated by observing an aide's performance of the task with a patient or pseudo-patient. A few commenters stated that these changes should be implemented as quickly as possible, and once they are in place CMS should undertake a recalculation of the labor shares. Consumers can now access the Hospice APU compliance file from Care Compare, enabling them to determine if a particular hospice is compliant with CMS' quality reporting requirements.Start Printed Page 42590. One commenter suggested including a statement that data cover care provided during the COVID-19 PHE for eight quarters. More information and documentation can be found in our https://www.cms.gov/files/document/guidance-memo-exceptions-and-extensions-quality-reporting-and-value-based-purchasing-programs.pdf. Form, Manner, and Timing of Quality Data Submission, a. Statutory Penalty for Failure To Report, 10. The HCI uses information from all ten indicators to collectively represent a hospice's ability to address patients' needs, best practices hospices should observe, and/or care outcomes that matter to consumers. We remind commenters that the intent of the addendum is to ensure that hospice beneficiaries and their representatives are fully informed of any items or services for which they must assume financial responsibility. Hospices Inappropriately Billed Medicare Over $250 Million for General Inpatient Care. For HIS-based measures, we used quarters Q1 through Q4 2019. This final regulation is subject to the Congressional Review Act provisions of the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996 (5 U.S.C. A summary of the comments we received on this proposal and our responses to those comments appear below. Also, the relatively high number of hospices that meet the public reporting threshold in the CAR scenario, relative to the SPR scenario, with just 3 quarters of data justify the use of 3 quarters in the unusual circumstances of the COVID-19 PHE and its associated exemptions. 4, Update on Use of Q4 2019 HH QRP Data and Data Freeze for Refreshes in 2021. Our analysis found that they meet factor 4: a more broadly applicable measure (across settings, populations, or conditions) for the particular topic is available. We determined that the HIS Comprehensive Start Printed Page 42555Assessment Measure, discussed in detail in the FY 2017 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update final rule (81 FR 52144), is a more broadly applicable measure and continues to provide, in a single measure, meaningful differences between hospices regarding overall quality in addressing the physical, psychosocial, and spiritual factors of hospice care upon admission.
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