The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has for the first time released the results of the CAHPS Hospice Survey on Hospice Compare.
The survey—the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS)—asks family members or friends who cared for a patient who died under hospice about their experience with the provider. The survey contains 47 questions, and all hospices that have 50 or more patient/family caregiver pairs are required to participate in order to receive their full Medicare payment update.
The results published on Hospice Compare apply to all Medicare-certified hospices that had at least 30 completed surveys during the eight quarters from the second quarter of 2015 through the first quarter of 2017.
Hospice Compare is similar to Home Health Compare and displays metrics related to quality of care and patient experience.
The CAHPS data was added to Hospice Compare, which already contains a variety of other data on quality of care, including the Hospice Item Set (HIS). The goal is to provide consumers with a tool to help them choose a hospice provider.
However, Hospice Compare, which launched in August 2017, has run into a number of issues. In late 2017, the location search function was not working properly, with the site generating incorrect results. CMS issued a warning that it was working on the issue at the time.
In addition, CMS also released a data guidance update, signaling that hospice providers should update demographic data and that if incorrect data is included in their preview report or on the Hospice Compare website, they need to reach out to their Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs).
Written by Amy Baxter
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