The CMS wants to make sure it's using the right quality measures to track care given by home health agencies, which costs the agency around $18 billion every year. The agency has issued numerous new quality measures for HHS going back to 1999, but it's unclear what, if any, impact on care they've had, according to a federal notice.
"Despite the established use of CMS quality measures in HHAs, CMS lacks information regarding the impact of their use and how HHAs are responding to them," the agency said.
The survey, if approved by the White House, would begin in August 2019. Results of the survey would be published by 2021 in peer-reviewed journals.
Survey findings will inform the CMS on how well home health agencies are performing under current measures and whether new measures are needed for the providers. More than 12,200 HHAs participate in the Medicare program, with 3.4 million beneficiaries receiving care every year. Medicare spends around $18 billion every year on home health claims.
