Hello everyone and welcome to our Monday Minute. Today I want to share with you the update, or refresh is technically the term, that has been completed on the Home Health data on the Care Compare website.
The Care Compare website, of course, was updated and changed from Home Health Compare a bit ago. We have been waiting for some of the data to be refreshed and as a result of the Public Health Emergency, we are still limited in the data that is being updated/refreshed on the Care Compare site. For the Compare refresh that is taking place or just took place at the end of January 2022, you are only going to see three quarters of data, which will include the last two quarters of 2020 and the first quarter of 2021. That is only for HHCAHPS and the OASIS assessment-based measures. The claims-based measures are still on a freeze, and we will not see any refresh with the claims-based measures until the July 2022 refresh. With that refresh, it will be for fewer quarters than normal. We will not get back to normal reporting or updates to the Care Compare site, in regard to claims data, until October 2024. There will be normal reporting using four quarters of data with the April 2022 refresh for both the OASIS measures and HHCAHPS.
One thing I want to emphasize is that many, honestly, have not realized that the reinitiating of the data requirements began back in the third quarter of 2020. So, many have been misinformed that because the Public Health Emergency has continued that they still, somehow, had relief from having to participate in the Home Health Quality Reporting Program and that is simply not the case. They did completely remove, basically from public reporting and from outcomes calculation, any data in the first two quarters of 2020, but they did resume data collection and calculation of outcomes etc. in the third quarter of 2020.
So, you’re going to want to make sure that you check out this data. We have seen report that some agencies are saying their information, the particular agency’s information, is not accurate on the Care Compare website, in the refresh; from the services that they provide and some of those kinds of things. They are aware of the issues that are happening with that agency data etc. and they’re working on a correction. There’s no need for you to individually report your data as being inaccurate, at this point, because I’m assuming, well we all are, that as they begin those corrections, they’ll be correcting everyone’s data.
We are going to provide, in this Minute, a link to the updated Tips Report and it gives you all of the information we’ve just discussed plus much, much more. And at the end of that tips document regarding Home Health Quality Reporting Program, there is a list of resources that includes most of the data, if not all the data, that you need updates for to ensure you stay on top of your Home Health Quality Reporting Program.
If you have specific questions about any of this, there is a help desk email address at the bottom of that tips tool. We will be happy to assist if there’s anything that we can do. As always, make sure you stay connected to your state and national home care and hospice associations, as they are a wealth of information as well.
Thank you all for joining today and I hope to see you at a live conference soon. Have a great week.