Apr 17 -- -- The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) invite public comment to OMB by May 18, 2023 on the CAHPS Hospice Survey. [Comments due 30 days from submission to OMB on April 18.]
CMS is required to collect and publicly report information on the quality of services provided by hospices under provisions in the Social Security Act. Specifically, sections 1814(i)(5)(A) through (C) of the Act, as added by section 3132(a) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) (Pub. L. 111–148), required hospices to begin submitting quality data, based on measures specified by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (the Secretary) for FY 2014 and subsequent FYs.
The goal of the survey is to measure the experiences of patients and their caregivers with hospice care. The survey was developed to:
-- Provide a source of information from which selected measures could be publicly reported to beneficiaries and their family members as a decision aid for selection of a hospice program;
-- Aid hospices with their internal quality improvement efforts and external benchmarking with other facilities;
-- Provide CMS with information for monitoring the care provided.
Number of Respondents: 1,140,695
For national implementation, survey vendors collect the data from primary informal caregivers (i.e., bereaved family members or close friends) of patients who died while receiving hospice care in any of the following settings: (1) at home or in an assisted living facility, (2) in a nursing home, and (3) in an inpatient setting (i.e., freestanding inpatient unit or acute care hospital). CMS’ CAHPS Hospice Survey Quality Assurance Guidelines manual provides information to survey vendors and hospices on the Program Requirements, including the purpose of the CAHPS Hospice Survey, communication with patients and/or their caregivers, the Roles and Responsibilities for participating organizations (i.e., CMS, hospices, and survey vendors), survey vendor analysis of CAHPS Hospice Survey data, the Minimum Business Requirements to administer the CAHPS Hospice Survey, and the Rules of Participation.
The CAHPS® Hospice Survey includes items addressing communication, timely care, respect, spiritual and emotional support, symptom management, the training of family members to care for the patient, and overall care ratings. The survey questionnaire is unchanged from our prior submission. The survey is designed to gather only the data that CMS needs for assessing experiences with hospice care.
CAHPS Hospice Survey
https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality-initiatives-patient-assessment-instruments/hospice-quality-reporting/cahps%C2%AE-hospice-survey
CMS submission to OMB:
https://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAViewICR?ref_nbr=202304-0938-011 Click IC List for information collection instrument, View Supporting Statement for technical documentation. Submit comments through this webpage.
FRN:
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2023-08069
For AEA members wishing to submit comments, "A Primer on How to Respond to Calls for Comment on Federal Data Collections" is available at
https://www.aeaweb.org/content/file?id=5806