The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is offering a 3-minute, animated explainer video, titled BIMS and BIMS Summary Score: Stopping and Coding an Incomplete Interview for Home Health (HH), Inpatient Rehab Facility (IRF), Long Term Care Hospital (LTCH), and Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF) Providers.

 

The 2023 LTSS State Scorecard (the Scorecard) is a compilation of state data and analysis based on a new vision of a high-performing state long-term services and supports (LTSS) system. The Scorecard is released every three years, utilizing data from a wide range of sources to describe how state LTSS systems are performing. Capturing this information will help to identify strengths and weaknesses, and we encourage everyone involved in these state systems to participate and take steps toward their transformation and modernization.

 

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) is partnering with LeadingAge, NHPCO, and NPHI to collect information on various audits of hospice claims to share with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). We sent a letter to CMS outlining all our concerns about the hospice audit process. (Read that letter here.) In a follow up meeting with CMS, there was a mutual desire to focus on correcting issues related to the audits and this information will be used for that purpose only. We are asking for your help to collect examples of these issues—with no protected health information—particularly of technical denials. We are keeping all responses confidential; no provider information will be shared.

Last week, NPR’s Morning Edition show included a story about hospice care, which featured interviews with NHPCO CEO Ben Marcantonio and Hospice in the Pines / MyHospice Ambassador Demetress Harrell. This story is being considered one of the most positive hospice media stories this year! If you haven’t yet, please listen to this story and share it with your networks.

 

CMS will release the second Interim Preview Reports for the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) model this month, and these data points are going to provide more detail than agencies received in July.

 

The first interim reports this summer included three months of OASIS data from 2023 and the first performance year under HHVBP, but no claims-based or HHCAHPS survey results for 2023.

 

In this second report in October, agencies will get six months of OASIS data from 2023 and data for the other measures from the first three months of the year. Each quarterly report will continue to add three months of data.

 

In the latest HHVBP FAQs (linked below), CMS breaks down why some agencies may have seen 0.000 on some scores in the initial IPR.

 

Welcome the Association's newest member, Alvita Connecticut, LLC! They live their values authentically. Every action they take supports the best outcomes for their clients, each member of their team takes ownership in delivering on the care and commitments they have made and they build meaningful and trusted relationships with their clients and their families. Their success and their clients’ improved quality of life comes from the collaboration among caregivers, clients, their families, and their employees.