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CY2024 Quarter 1 Data Submission Deadline Reminder: One Week Left
Data SubmissionsPosted July 11, 2024

The next data submission deadline is Thursday, July 18, 2024. We are now one week away from the deadline for submitting HHCAHPS Survey data for Quarter 1 of calendar year 2024 (CY2024,Q1).

We thank those HHCAHPS vendors who have already begun submitting CY2024,Q1 data for their HHA clients. If you have not submitted any data for Quarter 1, we encourage you to begin submitting your files as soon as possible.

Important Points to Remember:

For each sample month an HHA has no eligible patients, please remember to request an email from them documenting that they had no eligible patients, so that you can submit a 0-eligible file for that month.
Please remember to submit a DNR for any HHAs that do not send you a file.
Data files must pass both the initial validation checks and the secondary validation checks.
To ensure that files can be accepted by the deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on July 18, 2024, you must submit all of your Quarter 1 files on or before Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Since CMS will not accept any files after the data submission deadline, make sure you check your data submission reports to verify that all of your submitted files were accepted. And, correct and re-submit all files before the data submission deadline.
You must still submit an XML data file for an HHA even if their monthly patient information file does not have any patients eligible to be sampled.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that each HHA client has authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.

Please feel free to contact us via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

CY2024 Qtr. 1 Data Submission Deadline Reminder
Data SubmissionsPosted July 3, 2024

The next data submission deadline is Thursday, July 18, 2024. We are now approximately 2 weeks away from the deadline for submitting HHCAHPS Survey data for Quarter 1 of calendar year 2024 (CY2024,Q1).

Important Points to Remember:

For each sample month an HHA has no eligible patients, please remember to request an email from them documenting that they had no eligible patients, so that you can submit a 0-eligible file for that month.
Please remember to submit a DNR for any HHAs that do not send you a file.
Data files must pass both the initial validation checks and the secondary validation checks.
To ensure that files can be accepted by the deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on July 18, 2024, you must submit all of your Quarter 1 files on or before Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Since CMS will not accept any files after the data submission deadline, make sure you check your data submission reports to verify that all of your submitted files were accepted. And, correct and re-submit all files before the data submission deadline.
You must still submit an XML data file for an HHA even if their monthly patient information file does not have any patients eligible to be sampled.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that each HHA client has authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.

Please feel free to contact us via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

HHCAHPS Coordination Team Quarterly Review (CTQR) Newsletter – July 2024 Edition
Other AnnouncementsPosted July 1, 2024

The next issue of the HHCAHPS Coordination Team Quarterly Review (CTQR) newsletter, which provides information about HHCAHPS to home health agencies and survey vendors, has been posted.

This quarter’s issue features a chart showing CY2023,Q4 response rates for all 3 survey modes and tips for survey vendors and HHAs to increase response rates.
We also provide data submission reminders for the upcoming July 18, 2024 CY2024,Q1 deadline.

CTQR newsletters are posted on the HHCAHPS website and updated quarterly. You can navigate to the July 2024 newsletter located under the General Information tab on the HHCAHPS website or click this link: CTQR Newsletter – July 2024.

The CTQR does not replace any source of information currently on the HHCAHPS website; instead, it highlights important information for readers each quarter. We encourage you to visit the HHCAHPS website for more information on the items mentioned in this newsletter.

CY24 Qtr. 1 Data Submission Deadline Reminder
Data SubmissionsPosted June 20, 2024

The next data submission deadline is Thursday, July 18, 2024. We are now approximately 4 weeks away from the deadline for submitting HHCAHPS Survey data for Quarter 1 of calendar year 2024 (CY24,Q1).

We thank those HHCAHPS vendors who have already begun submitting CY24,Q1 data for their HHA clients. If you have not submitted any data for Quarter 1, we encourage you to begin submitting your files as soon as possible.

Important Points to Remember:

For each sample month an HHA has no eligible patients, please remember to request an email from them documenting that they had no eligible patients, so that you can submit a 0-eligible file for that month.
Please remember to submit a DNR for any HHAs that do not send you a file.
Data files must pass both the initial validation checks and the secondary validation checks.
To ensure that files can be accepted by the deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on July 18, 2024, you must submit all of your Quarter 1 files on or before Wednesday, July 17, 2024.
Since CMS will not accept any files after the data submission deadline, make sure you check your data submission reports to verify that all of your submitted files were accepted. And, correct and re-submit all files before the data submission deadline.
You must still submit an XML data file for an HHA even if their monthly patient information file does not have any patients eligible to be sampled.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that each HHA client has authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.

Please feel free to contact us via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

HHCAHPS Preview Reports with Star Ratings Available
Information for Home Health AgenciesPosted June 13, 2024

The purpose of this announcement is to alert home health agencies (HHAs) that Preview Reports reflecting results from the Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey from January 2023 through December 2023 (2023, Q1-Q4) are now available on https://homehealthcahps.org via the "Survey Preview Report” link under the “For HHAs” tab. HHA users must be logged into the website to view their report. These same data will be updated on Medicare’s compare tool on https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/ in July 2024.

The Preview Reports present the publicly reported results, which also include star ratings for those agencies with data for 40 or more patient surveys in the 4-quarter reporting period.

To access your agency’s HHCAHPS Preview Report, log into the HHCAHPS website and select the “Survey Preview Report” link under the “For HHAs” tab.

For more information about the Preview Reports, please refer to this document on the HHCAHPS website: Understanding the HHCAHPS Survey Preview Reports

For more information about HHCAHPS star ratings, including Frequently Asked Questions, please click here: Star Ratings Information

If you have any questions about the HHCAHPS star ratings or your HHCAHPS Preview Report, please contact the HHCAHPS Survey Coordination Team via e-mail at hhcahps@rti.org or call toll-free at (866) 354-0985.

Public Reporting Results Refreshed on Care Compare; Archived Publicly Reported Data Available on HHCAHPS Website
Public ReportingPosted April 24, 2024

Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey results based on responses from patients who received home health care from Medicare-certified home health agencies (HHAs) from October 2022 through September 2023 are now reported on Medicare’s compare tool at https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/. HHCAHPS Survey results are updated each calendar year quarter.

These data are also available on the HHCAHPS website through the “Archived Publicly Reported Data” link under the “General Information” tab. On this webpage, you can access:

HHA-level data,
state and national averages,
star ratings cut points, and
patient mix adjustment coefficients for the linearized data used to construct the star ratings.

As a reminder, information on how the star ratings were constructed is provided in these Technical Notes.

Click here for more information about how the data were analyzed and for the patient-mix adjustment factors that were used to statistically adjust the results that are currently being publicly reported on CMS’ Compare website.

Discrepancy Notification Report (DNR) Excel Template Has Been Updated for the CY 2026 APU
Other AnnouncementsPosted April 18, 2024

A new Discrepancy Notification Report (DNR) template, covering the sample months of January 2024 through March 2025, is now available for use by survey vendors. To access the template, log onto the HHCAHPS website, go to the “Forms for Vendors” tab, and click on the “Discrepancy Notification Report” link. A link to the template is available under Section III of the online DNR form.

As a reminder, the template contains a separate column for each piece of information that the Coordination Team and CMS need to evaluate a DNR submission. The revised Excel template still has three tabs: sample fielded late (Late Start), sample not fielded at all (Missed Sampled Month), and “other reason” (Other). Each tab has prepopulated fields for the period covering the sample months of January 2024 through March 2025.

Below are some reminders for using this template:

Submit a new template (i.e., Excel file) for each new DNR. The Excel file should only include information for the reported discrepancy. Check to make sure that information about previously reported discrepancies is not included in any of the tabs.
If you need to update an online DNR that was submitted with an accompanying Excel file, you must update and resubmit both the accompanying online DNR and Excel file. For auditing purposes, the submission date information in both the online DNR form and template must match; the Coordination Team cannot make changes to either of these documents.
Vendors should use the template to report discrepancies for one or more CCNs. The online DNR form asks vendors to submit an accompanying Excel file if the DNR covers more than five CCNs; however, the Coordination Team encourages the use of the template for all DNR submissions, even if it is only for one CCN, to ensure that all required fields are provided.
If you are using the Excel template, it is not necessary to repeat the information you provide in the template in Sections II and III of the online DNR form; instead, you may indicate on the online DNR form in Sections II and III that more information is provided via the template (using language such as “see spreadsheet”). You should indicate that you are submitting an Excel spreadsheet by checking the box in Section III.
Do not add columns or change the order of columns in the template.

If you have any questions about this announcement, please contact the HHCAHPS Survey Coordination Team via e-mail at hhcahps@rti.org or call toll-free at (866) 354-0985.

CY23 Quarter 4 Data Submission Deadline Reminder: One Week Left
Data SubmissionsPosted April 11, 2024

The next data submission deadline is Thursday, April 18, 2024. We are now one week away from the deadline for submitting HHCAHPS Survey data for Quarter 4 of calendar year 2023 (CY23,Q4).

We thank those HHCAHPS vendors that have already submitted CY23,Q4 data for their HHA clients. If you have not yet submitted CY23,Q4 data for all or most of your HHA clients, we encourage you to submit your files as soon as possible.

Important Points to Remember:

For each sample month an HHA has no eligible patients, please remember to request an email from them documenting that they had no eligible patients or have them submit a blank monthly patient information file, so that you can submit a 0-eligible file for that month.
Please remember to submit a DNR for any HHAs that do not send you a file.
Data files must pass both the initial and the secondary validation checks.
To ensure that files can be accepted by the deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on April 18, 2024, you must submit all your Quarter 4 files on or before Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Since CMS will not accept any files after the data submission deadline, make sure you check your data submission reports to verify that all of your submitted files were accepted. And, correct and re-submit any files before the data submission deadline.
You must still submit an XML data file for an HHA even if their monthly patient information file does not have any patients eligible to be sampled.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that each HHA client has authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.

Please feel free to contact us via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

CY23 Qtr. 4 Data Submission Deadline Reminder
Data SubmissionsPosted April 4, 2024

The next data submission deadline is Thursday, April 18, 2024. We are now approximately 2 weeks away from the deadline for submitting HHCAHPS Survey data for Quarter 4 of calendar year 2023 (CY23,Q4).

We thank those HHCAHPS vendors that have already begun submitting CY23,Q4 data for their HHA clients. If you have not submitted any data for Quarter 4, we encourage you to begin submitting your files as soon as possible.

Important Points to Remember:

For each sample month an HHA has no eligible patients, please remember to request an email from them documenting that they had no eligible patients or have them submit a blank monthly patient information file, so that you can submit a 0-eligible file for that month.
Please remember to submit a DNR for any HHAs that do not send you a file.
Data files must pass both the initial and the secondary validation checks.
To ensure that files can be accepted by the deadline at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on April 18, 2024, you must submit all your Quarter 4 files on or before Wednesday, April 17, 2024.
Since CMS will not accept any files after the data submission deadline, make sure you check your data submission reports to verify that all of your submitted files were accepted. And, correct and re-submit any files before the data submission deadline.
You must still submit an XML data file for an HHA even if their monthly patient information file does not have any patients eligible to be sampled.
Check your Vendor Authorization Report to make sure that each HHA client has authorized your organization to submit data on their behalf.

Please feel free to contact us via email or through the toll-free number if you have any questions or need help with data submissions.

CY 2026 APU Participation Exemption Request (PER) Form for HHCAHPS Survey, with Updated Related Documents
Information for Home Health AgenciesPosted April 1, 2024

The purpose of this announcement is to alert HHAs eligible for an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey that the Participation Exemption Request (PER) Form for the calendar year (CY) 2026 annual payment update (APU) is now available on the HHCAHPS website at the following link:

Participation Exemption Request Form

We have also updated the three HHCAHPS website documents listed below to reflect the CY 2026 APU participation period. The updated documents can be found on the website, in the Information for HHAs box on the Home page. Direct links to those documents are provided below.

For more information, contact the HHCAHPS Survey Coordination Team via email at hhcahps@rti.org or call toll-free at (866) 354-0985.

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