Home health agencies have several recently released reports that require timely review and attention.
First, while not a report, the January refresh of the Home Health Quality Reporting Program materials has been released. Additionally, preview reports dated January 6 are now available for the upcoming April refresh. With the April update, the COVID-19 vaccination question and measure will be fully removed from public reporting. It remains included in the January refresh but will no longer appear in April. As a reminder, this question will also be completely removed from OASIS with the OASIS-E2 update in April.
In addition, in December, the OASIS-E2 final data set and updated guidance manual were released. Be sure this update is available to your staff and that education has begun, if it has not already, on the changes to OASIS-E2 that will take effect on April 1, 2026.
The final reports to share today are the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing Interim Reports released in October. It is important to review these reports and understand your current performance. Many find it frustrating that the October 2025 report includes only the first six months of 2025 for OASIS data, while claims and HHCAHPS data extend only through the first quarter of 2025.
However, it is important to note that many measures included in the 2025 data set will continue in the Value-Based Purchasing Model in 2026. The care point information, which ranks each measure by national percentile, can help you identify specific areas that should remain a focus for education and improvement as the Value-Based Purchasing Model continues to evolve into 2026.
One additional point regarding Value-Based Purchasing is that if you review your 2025 annual report, which is based on 2024 data, you will see that Total Normalized Composite Change Measure data were still reported. This includes the three 1800-series items being added back into Value-Based Purchasing in 2026. Those items were bathing, dressing the upper body, and dressing the lower body. Because these items were previously included in the composite change measure, the report still reflects the percentage of patients showing improvement in each area. This provides additional data to help you identify specific focus areas as you prepare for 2026.
Lastly, within the rulemaking process for home health in 2026, initially raised in the Proposed Rule and addressed again in the Final Rule, there was a request for information that focuses on publicly reported measures and the current four and a half month window agencies have to make corrections or submit updates after the data submission period ends and before reports are finalized. The question being posed is whether this timeframe should be shortened from four and a half months to 45 days. While 45 days may be overly aggressive and four and a half months may be excessive, your input is needed. CMS is still collecting feedback to inform potential future changes, so agencies are encouraged to submit their perspectives.
Healthcare Provider Solutions is always available to support you with reviewing reports related to today’s topics, including Quality Reporting Program, Value-Based Purchasing reports and OASIS E2. If you require assistance, please reach out to us.
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