The regulatory issues just keep mounting with both home health and hospice. This information is technically not new, but needs to be reiterated for hospices that may not be as on top of the CAHPS survey information as they need to be.
CMS issued Change Request (CR) 9460 December 18, 2015 with an effective date of January 1, 2016. This CR is to update Chapter 3 of the Medicare Quality Reporting Incentive Programs Manual. This update is to confirm that any Hospice that does not comply with the requirements of the Hospice Consumer Assessment of Health Providers and System (CAHPS) Survey data will have a 2% decrease in payments for the FY 2017. The CR can be found here https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Guidance/Transmittals/Downloads/R52QRI.pdf.
The CAHPS requirements for hospice were updated in the fall of 2015. For the calendar year (CY) 2016 data collection period, Medicare-certified hospices that have served fewer than 50 survey-eligible decedents/caregivers in CY 2015 (January 1, 2015 through December 31, 2015) can apply for an exemption from CAHPS Hospice Survey CY 2016 data collection and reporting requirements.
The following links are to FAQs, List of approved CAHPS vendors and the Hospice Survey Fact Sheet that was updated October 2015.
http://www.hospicecahpssurvey.org/en/hospice-specific-faqs2/
http://www.hospicecahpssurvey.org/en/approved-vendor-list/
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