CMS NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 16,
2015
Contact: CMS Media Relations
(202) 690-6145 | CMS
Media Inquiries
CMS Releases First Round of Home Health
Compare Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings Ratings to Help Consumers
Compare and Choose Among Home Health Agencies
Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for the
first time published star ratings on Home
Health Compare, CMS’s public information website for Home Health Agencies.
Star ratings can help consumers more quickly identify differences in quality
and make use of the information when selecting a health care provider. In
addition to summarizing certain data about Home Health Agency performance for
consumers, star ratings can also help the agencies identify areas for
improvement.
“Adding star ratings to Home Health Compare is another step forward in our
continuing efforts to empower consumers by providing more information to help
them make health care decisions, while also encouraging providers to strive for
higher levels of quality,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, Acting Principal Deputy
Administrator for CMS and Deputy Administrator for Innovation and Quality.
Each Home Health Agency will receive a single summary Quality of Patient
Care Star Rating encompassing that agency’s relative performance on 9 of the 29
quality measures already posted on Home Health Compare, including:
- How often the home health team began their patients’
care in a timely manner.
- How often the home health team made sure that their
patients have received a flu shot for the current flu season.
- How often the home health team taught patients (or
their family caregivers) about their prescribed drugs.
- How often home health patients got better at walking or
moving around.
- How often home health patients got better at getting in
and out of bed.
- How often home health patients had less pain when
moving around.
- How often home health patients got better at bathing.
- How often home health patients’ breathing improved.
- How often home health patients had to be admitted to
the hospital.
The measures are calculated using information from patient assessments
performed by the HHA and from Medicare claims submitted by the HHA. When
calculating patient outcomes, statistical models are used to adjust for
differences in the types of patients served by different agencies.
The new Home Health Compare Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings will be
updated each quarter as more recent data become available. In addition, CMS
plans to introduce additional star ratings based on a patient experience of
care survey (the Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and
Systems (HHCAHPS) instrument) in January 2016. It is the sixth star rating
system that has been added by this Administration to Medicare.gov.
Today’s announcement is part of a larger effort at the Department of
Health and Human Services to transform our health care system to deliver better
care, spend our dollars in a smarter way, and put patients in the center of
their care to keep them healthy. Our plan to make this vision a reality is to
pay providers for what works, unlock health care data, and find new ways to
coordinate and integrate care to improve quality. With the Affordable Care Act,
we took one of the most important steps toward a more accessible and affordable
health care system in almost 50 years. With new tools, we have an opportunity
to seize this historic moment to transform our health care system into one that
works for the American people.
Star ratings are currently publicly displayed on Nursing Home Compare,
Physician Compare, Dialysis Facility Compare, the Medicare Advantage Plan
Finder, and Hospital Compare.
Today’s announcement follows a
proposal released last week to launch a new Home
Health Value Based Purchasing model designed to support greater quality of care
among Medicare beneficiaries.
For more information on today’s announcement, please visit here: http://cms.gov/Newsroom/MediaReleaseDatabase/Fact-sheets/2015-Fact-sheets-items/2015-07-16.html
For more information about the Home Health Quality of Patient Care Star
Ratings, please visit the CMS Home Health Star Ratings web site at: http://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/HomeHealthQualityInits/HHQIHomeHealthStarRatings.html
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