Issue date: April 22th, 2022

Here are some home health related updates for this week:

AMITY’S NEWS

Webinar: Plan Ahead: 5 Key Strategies to Prepare Now for Home Health Value Based Purchasing

Learn about the expectations and requirements of the expanded HHVBP model and discover how to effectively use the pre-implementation year to prepare, make necessary changes, and align appropriate resources to be competitive and successful in the HHVBP model.

Learning Objectives:

• Learn about primary components of HHVBP model
• Review potential challenges and benefits associated with HHVBP
• Identify key strategies to successfully prepare for the HHVBP model during the pre-implementation year

The quarterly OASIS Q&As are now available (to view the updates, please go here).

The draft OASIS-E guidance manual and OASIS-E data specifications are expected to be posted early summer.

Public Reporting

Preview Reports and Star Rating Preview Reports for the July 2022 Care Compare refresh are now available in iQIES.

CMS is still urging HHA providers to carefully review the Services Provided data within the Preview Reports released on 2/23/2022. If the values are incorrect for your agency, please contact your State Automation or State OEC and request an update of your Services Provided data in iQIES.

Home Health CAHPS

The CY2024 annual payment update (APU) period began on April 1, 2022. Home health agencies are required to provide data for April 2022 through March 2023 to meet compliance requirements and avoid the APU penalty. Those providers that believe they are exempt from CAHPS because they are a small agency, specifically having had 59 or fewer patients from the period of April 2021 through March 2022, need to complete the Participation Exemption Request Form for the annual payment update for calendar year 2024.

The HHCAHPS Coordination Team Quarterly Review newsletter is now available as well.

• Severe illness or death – a severe medical condition or death of a provider or key staff member responsible for reporting hindered the organization’s ability to complete the report during the Reporting Period.
• Impacted by natural disaster – a natural disaster occurred during or in proximity of the end of the Reporting Period damaging the organization’s records or information technology.
• Lack of receipt of reporting communications – an incorrect email or mailing address on file with HRSA prevented the organization from receiving instructions prior to the Reporting Period deadline.
• Failure to click “submit” – the organization registered and prepared a report in the PRF Reporting Portal but failed to take the final step to click “submit” prior to deadline.
• Internal miscommunication or error – Internal miscommunication or error regarding the individual who was authorized and expected to submit the report on behalf of the organization and/or the registered point of contact in the PRF Reporting Portal.
• Incomplete Targeted Distribution payments – the organization’s parent entity completed all General Distribution payments, but a Targeted Distribution(s) was not reported on by the subsidiary.

If HRSA approves the request, the organization will receive a notification to proceed with completing the Reporting Period 1 report. Providers will have 10 days from the date they receive the notification to submit a report in the PRF Reporting Portal.

CMS believes imposing limits on cost sharing for covered services is an important way to ensure that the cost sharing aspect of an MA plan design does not discriminate against or discourage enrollment of beneficiaries who have high health care needs and who need specific services.

For agenda, schedule, and registration, please go to: https://www.ngsmedicare.com/web/ngs/news-article-details?selectedArticleId=4093419&lob=96664&state=97133&region=93623

2) CHAP Home Health and Hospice Operations Certification WorkshopsCHAP is offering Home Health and Hospice operations certification workshops that offer education on fiscal management, leadership skills development, compliance, quality improvement, and employee retention (please go to here for more details).

San Diego, CA
Hospice: May 10-12, 2022; Home Health: June 21-23, 2022

Arlington/DC Metro
Hospice: August 23-25, 2022;  Home Health: Sept. 13-15, 2022

This transition will take place over the next 10 weeks, with a formal transition date of July 1, 2022. HPO Section Manager Matthew Colussi will help oversee the transition. Please note that Hospice, Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment (EPSDT), and Pediatric Behavioral Therapy will not be included as part of the transition.

Following the transition, the HCPF will begin holding public stakeholder meetings with interested parties about these benefits, the Utilization Review/Utilization Management (UR/UM) of these services, and next steps this summer.

Colorado’s 80-hour COVID-related PHE leave continues as long as a COVID-related emergency remains “declared by a federal, state, or local public health agency” (C.R.S. § 8-13.3-402(9)), and both federal and state COVID-19 emergencies remain in effect. The right to HFWA COVID-related leave continues “until four weeks after” all applicable public health emergencies end or are suspended.

For more information on paid sick leave, please see the CDLE Division of Labor Standards and Statistics’ HFWA webpage. For more information Colorado’s labor laws in general, please refer to the Division’s website or call 303-318-8441 to speak with a Compliance Investigator

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