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The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) regularly provides important updates for post-acute care quality reporting programs, including training opportunities, public reporting details and reminders of data submission and review deadlines.
Inpatient Rehabilitation Facilities
Provider Preview Reports
Updated inpatient rehabilitation facility (IRF) provider preview reports are now available. Providers have until Oct. 8 to review their 2017 quality measure performance data prior to their posting to the IRF Compare website in December. Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time. However, providers can request CMS review if they believe the data scores displayed are inaccurate.
Four new quality measures will be reported on IRF Compare:
- Assessment-based measures:
- Application of Percent of Long-Term Care Hospital Patients With an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function (NQF #2631)
- Application of Percent of Residents Experiencing One or More Falls with Major Injury (NQF #0674)
- Claims-based measures:
- Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary
- Discharge to Community
CMS has decided not to publish two additional quality measures — Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmissions and Potentially Preventable Within-Stay Readmissions — to allow additional time to determine whether modifications are needed.
Long-Term Care Hospitals
Provider Preview Reports
Updated long-term care hospital provider preview reports are now available. Providers have until Oct. 8 to review their 2017 quality measure performance data prior to their posting to the LTCH Compare website in December. Corrections to the underlying data will not be permitted during this time. However, providers can request CMS review during the preview period if they believe the data scores displayed are inaccurate.
The following five new quality measures will be newly reported on LTCH Compare:
- Assessment-based measures:
- Percent of LTCH Patients With an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function (NQF #2631)
- Application of Percent of LTCH Patients With an Admission and Discharge Functional Assessment and a Care Plan That Addresses Function (NQF #2631)
- Application of Percent of Residents Experiencing One or More Falls with Major Injury (NQF #0674)
- Claims-based measures:
- Medicare Spending Per Beneficiary
- Discharge to Community
CMS has decided not to publish two additional quality measures — Potentially Preventable 30-Day Post-Discharge Readmissions and Potentially Preventable Within-Stay Readmissions — to allow additional time to determine whether modifications are needed.
Hospice Services
Provider Preview Reports
Updated hospice provider preview reports and hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Survey provider preview reports are now available. These two reports are available in providers’ Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) non-validation reports folder. Hospice providers are encouraged to review their Hospice Item Set quality measure results from 2017 and their facility-level CAHPS® survey results from Quarter 1, 2016, to Quarter 4, 2017. Providers have until Oct. 5 to review their results.
The update includes one additional process measure for hospices:
- Hospice and Palliative Care Composite Process Measure – Comprehensive Assessment at Admission (NQF #3235)
HEART Open Door Forum
The CMS Centers for Clinical Standards & Quality will host a special open door forum on Sept. 26 from 8 – 9 a.m. (PT) on the Hospice Evaluation and Assessment Reporting Tool (HEART), currently under development and pilot testing by CMS.
The purpose of the HEART is to develop a hospice assessment tool that enables CMS and hospices to understand the care needs of people through the dying process and to ensure the safety and comfort of individuals enrolled in hospice institutions nationwide. In the upcoming forum, CMS personnel will provide a status update and respond to questions.
To join the call, dial (800) 837-1935 and enter passcode 4659087#. Meeting slides may be accessed on the CMS website.
