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Announcement

Deadline for Submitting a Participation Exemption Request for the 2014 Annual Payment Update
folder_openInformation for Home Health Agenciescalendar_todayPosted November 9, 2012

To be eligible to receive the annual payment update (APU) for calendar year 2014 (CY2014), 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. 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 CY 2014 APU.

The purpose of this announcement is to alert HHAs eligible for an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey that the deadline for filing a Participation Exemption Request Form (PER) for the CY2014 APU is at 11:59 PM Eastern Time on January 17, 2013. This deadline for submitting the PER for the 2014 APU was announced in the Home Health Prospective Payment System Rate Update Final Rule for Calendar Year 2013, Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements, and Survey and Enforcement Requirements for Home Health Agencies (CMS-1358-F) that was published in the Federal Register on November 8, 2012. The final rule is available on the HHCAHPS Web site at https://homehealthcahps.org/HHCAHPS2013FinalRule.pdf.

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 between April 1, 2011 and March 31, 2012 who met survey eligibility requirements and report the count to CMS via the online PER form on the HHCAHPS Web site at:

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

HHAs that submitted a PER for an exemption from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey for the CY2012 or CY2013 APU should note that a PER must be submitted on an annual basis.

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