HQRP Quarterly Update for 3rd Quarter of 2022 is Available

The Hospice Quarterly Update for the third quarter of 2022 is now available. This update includes Hospice Quality Reporting Program highlights from July to September 2022, events and engagement opportunities for the fourth quarter of 2022 (October-December 2022), and selected questions and answers from the Hospice Quality Help Desk. Please navigate to the HQRP Requirements and Best Practices page to download this document.

Expanded HHVBP Model: New Resources Now Available

New Resource Now Available – Quality Improvement Self-Assessment for Your HHA 

The Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Technical Assistance (TA) Team is pleased to announce the availability of a new organizational self-assessment resource, available on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage under the “Quality Improvement” section:

Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) Program Self-Assessment: For use by home health agency (HHA) teams as a brief, self-guided, performance improvement activity based on structured review of expanded HHVBP Model performance data by measure category. The forms included in the workbook create simple data visualizations that will allow teams to see patterns in measure performance by category. Teams will self-assess their HHA’s performance by measure category for use in planning performance improvement activities.

For questions, please email the HHVBP Model Help Desk at [email protected].

September FAQs Available

The September edition of the Expanded HHVBP Model Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) is now available to assist HHAs in understanding common terms used in the expanded Model and requirements under the Calendar Year (CY) 2022 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) final rule. The document is available for viewing and download on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage.

Encore Presentation – Navigating Performance Feedback Reports: Interim Performance Report (IPR) and Annual Performance Report (APR)

On Tuesday, October 11^th, the HHVBP TA Team hosted the live encore of the August 25^th webinar: Navigating Performance Feedback Reports: Interim Performance Report (IPR) and Annual Performance Report (APR). During this event, the TA Team, using the sample reports now available on iQIES, introduced the two (2) types of expanded HHVBP Model performance feedback reports: IPRs and APRs. Content included a review of the purpose, availability, timing, and location of the reports, followed by a walkthrough of each report type and the content on each tab in the reports.

Understanding important details for each report type and navigating the reports are essential skills for an HHA to accurately and efficiently track, trend, and identify report information to interpret their Total Performance Score and potential payment adjustments, and inform Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) initiatives.

As this webinar was a live encore presentation of the August 25^th webinar and contains the same content from the first webinar (with the exception of the Q&A portion), you can access the August 25^th slides, recording, and Q&A on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage. The recording and Q&A for the October 11^th event will be available on the webpage in 1-2 weeks.

Sample Reports Available

For learning purposes only, CMS provided two sample reports– one for the Interim Performance Report (IPR) and one for the Annual Performance Report (APR). These sample reports do not include actual HHA performance data. The content of the sample reports is based on the same scoring methodologies and other policies as presented in the CY 2022 HH PPS final rule. Information in the sample reports includes:

• An overview of the IPR and APR;
• Achievement, Improvement, Care Points, Measure Scorecard, and TNC Change Reference tabs;
• Annual Payment Adjustment tab in the APR;
• Formulas and Notes to explain the calculations of the Total Performance Score (TPS) in both reports, and the Final TPS-adjusted payment percentage in the APR; and
• Sample percentile rankings reflecting the agency’s performance relative to the performance of other CCNs in their cohort.

The sample reports are available in iQIES, and on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage, under the “Model Reports” section.

How the U.S. Will Revamp Family Caregiver Support

Hospice News / By Jim Parker

Without family caregivers, many hospice patients would be unable to receive care in their homes.

To help keep patients at home — the lowest-cost setting of care — the federal government recently unveiled a National Strategy to Support Family Caregivers, which has more than two decade’s worth of advocacy behind it.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced the strategy late last month. It includes close to 350 federal programs to assist the more than 53 million Americans who care for seriously ill or disabled loved ones in their homes, according to the U.S. Administration for Community Living (ACL), an HHS sub-agency.

The strategy also contains 150 recommendations for state and local government, as well as the private sector.

Support for family caregivers is an important step towards controlling health care costs, particularly for Medicare and Medicaid, according to Greg Link, director of the Office for Supportive and Caregiver Services at ACL.

“The value of family caregiving is estimated to be about $470 billion per year. If these family caregivers were to suddenly disappear, the health care system as we know it likely would be on the hook for that additional $470 billion of support and service,” Link told Hospice News. “We have an opportunity through some of the data, research, and actions that are in the strategy to get closer to understanding the real dollar value of caregiving, and also what a relatively small investment in supporting caregivers could ultimately save the health care system.”

The strategy is built on five pillars: increasing awareness of and outreach to family caregivers, advancing partnerships with those individuals, ensuring their financial and workplace security, strengthening services and support, and expanding research and evidence-based practices.

HHS has opened up a public comment period on the strategy to solicit feedback from stakeholders, meaning that hospice and palliative care providers have an opportunity to give input. The department plans to update the policies every two years and will use that feedback to shape some of those changes.

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