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 (HHAs)
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 healthcare 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
- Made sure that their patients have received a flu shot for the current flu season
- Taught patients (or their family caregivers) about their prescribed drugs
How often home health patients:
- Got better at walking or moving around
- Got better at getting in and out of bed
- Had less pain when moving around
- Got better at bathing
- Improved breathing
- 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 in January 2016.
This announcement is part of a larger effort of the Department of Health and Human Services to transform the healthcare system to deliver better care, spend dollars in a smarter way and put patients in the center of their care. The CMS plan to make this vision a reality is to pay providers for what works, unlock healthcare data and find new ways to coordinate and integrate care to improve quality.
For more information, visit the CMS Home Health Star Ratings Web site
If you represent a Home Health Agency, Great Plains Quality Innovation Network invites you to join our efforts to improve care and health outcomes. Join our Learning and Action Network today. For more information, visit our Web site.
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