Notice of Tentative Deadline for Filing a Participation Exemption Request from Participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for the 2014 Annual Payment Update
folder_openInformation for Home Health Agenciescalendar_todayPosted July 13, 2012

To be eligible to receive the APU for calendar year 2014, all Medicare-certified HHAs (HHAs) that served 60 or more survey-eligible patients between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012 must contract with an approved Home Health Care CAHPS (HHCAHPS) Survey vendor and have that vendor administer the survey on a monthly basis from April 2012 through March 2013.  As previously announced on the HHCAHPS Web site, Medicare-certified HHAs that served 59 or fewer unduplicated patients between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012 who met survey eligibility criteria may request an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey for the calendar year (CY) 2014 annual payment update (APU). 

The purpose of this announcement is to alert HHAs eligible for an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey that the tentative deadline for filing a Participation Exemption Form for the CY2014 APU is at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on  January 17, 2013. This deadline for submitting the Participation Exemption Request for the 2014 APU was announced in the proposed  Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update for Calendar Year 2013, Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements, and Survey and Enforcement Requirements for Home Health Agencies (CMS-1358-P) that was published in the Federal Register on July 13, 2012. The proposed rule is available at: 

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-07-13/pdf/2012-16836.pdf

Note that this deadline is tentative and subject to change until the proposed rule for the 2013 Home Health Prospective Payment System Update is finalized, which is expected sometime in October or November 2012.

All Medicare-certified HHAs seeking an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey for the 2014 APU must count the number of unduplicated patients served during that 12-month period who met survey eligibility requirements and report the count to CMS via an online form on the HHCAHPS Web site at:

https://homehealthcahps.org/ForHHAs/ParticipationExemptionRequestForm.aspx

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