Summary of CMS Open Door Forum: Hospice
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) hosted the first Home Health, Hospice and DME Open Doror Forum for the new year on January 8, 2025. During the forum call CMS reviewed several items that are important for home health and hospice providers. This article will cover items of interest to hospice providers.
An summary of the home health news from the Open Door Forum will be published on Monday, January 13.
Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP)
A Care Compare refresh is scheduled for February 2025. The preview reports for this refresh were released in November 2024. The next refresh will be in May 2025 The preview reports for that refresh will be released in February 2025.
CMS held a HQRP forum call on December 12, 2024. The slides, transcript and recording of the forum will be available soon on the HQRP website. Additionally, a vendor and developer call for the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation( HOPE) data set was held in November 2024, the minutes for that call are available on the QTSO News and Update webpage hospice-vendors News & Updates | QIES Technical Support Office.
CMS announced plans for another hospice vendor and developer call. The agenda for the call will be posted on the QTSO News and Updates webpage. The date for the call will be posted on the QTSO and HQRP spotlight page web sites. Vendors are welcome to submit questions prior to the call to iQIES@cms.hhs.gov . Participants were reminded to include hospice vender call in the subject line to ensure the message is routed correctly.
The 4th quarter FAQs will be posted soon on the webpage Requirements and Best Practices | CMS
NOTE: During the question and answer portion of the call, CMS erred in its response to a question about the use of telehealth for the home health face-to-face encounter. Specifically, CMS asserted that telehealth could not be used for the home health face-to-face encounter and that it must be completed in person. This is not correct.
As previously reported, the waiver of the geographic and originating site restrictions allowing for the home health face-to-face encounter to be performed via telehealth in the patient’s home and in any geographic location was extended until March 31, 2025 as part of the American Relief Act 2025. While the fight continues to extend or make permanent this flexibility, and that for hospice, telehealth may be used for the face-to-face encounter at this time. The Alliance has requested CMS make a correction
