Home health agencies are the latest to become subject to the CMS' five-star rating program, which is intended to help consumers compare the quality and safety of care they should expect from U.S. healthcare providers.
Star ratings for all Medicare-certified home health agencies for which there is adequate data will be published on Home Health Compare starting in 2015, the agency announced Thursday. There are more than 10,500 Medicare-certified agencies, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. Approximately 12 million people in the U.S. currently receive home care from more than 33,000 providers, which offer at-home services for acute, long-term and terminal health conditions.
The agencies will be rated on 10 measures. They include four process measures: the timely initiation of care; education provided to the patient or their caregiver about their medications; and the administration of flu shots and the pneumococcal vaccine. Also included are six outcome measures for improvements in ambulation, bed transfers, bathing, pain, shortness of breath and acute-care hospitalization. The CMS says that it plans to solicit stakeholder feedback on the proposed methodology, including the measures for inclusion, and that the methodology will be finalized based on additional feedback and technical analysis.
Both the National Association for Home Care & Hospice and Visiting Nurse Associations of America said they support the development of tools to help Medicare beneficiaries choose providers but declined to comment further because they were still reviewing the framework the CMS unveiled.
“We look forward to working with CMS to develop the best possible system,” said William Dombi, vice president for law at the NAHCH.
VNAA CEO Tracey Moorhead said the organization welcomes the opportunity for members to demonstrate the value they provide.
The announcement Thursday is part of the CMS' plan to adopt star ratings across all Medicare.gov compare websites. The system has been used to rate nursing homes since 2008. It was expanded to physician groups in February. Despite a delay in the rollout of the methodology among kidney dialysis providers, the federal agency announced in November plans to go ahead in January with rating those providers using methodology kidney-care groups had adamantly criticized.
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