Information about Home Health Agency Exemption from Participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey For the Calendar Year 2012 Annual Payment Update
folder_openInformation for Home Health Agenciescalendar_todayPosted February 10, 2010
As stated in the Home Health Prospective System Annual Payment Update Final Rule published in the Federal Register on November 10, 2009, Medicare-certified home health agencies that serve fewer than 60 unduplicated patients over the course of the 12-month period from April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010, will be exempted from participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for the calendar year (CY) 2012 annual payment update (APU).
What does this mean?
Agencies that serve fewer than 60 unduplicated patients between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, who are eligible to participate in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey (HHCAHPS) will be exempted from participating in HHCAHPS for the 2012 APU. Agencies that are exempted will not be required to participate in the activities listed below.
- Conduct a dry run of the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for one or more months in the third quarter of CY2010.
- Conduct an HHCAHPS Survey from October 1, 2010, through June 30, 2011, on a continuous basis following the protocols and guidelines described in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey Protocols and Guidelines Manual, Version 2.0.
What does my agency have to do to receive an exemption from participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey?
Agencies seeking an exemption must count the number of unduplicated patients they served between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, who meet survey eligibility criteria and submit that count to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) using an online form that will be available on the Home Health CAHPS Survey project Web site at https://homehealthcahps.org on April 1, 2010. The count of patients must be submitted to CMS on or before June 16, 2010.
Which patients served between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, should be included in the count reported to CMS?
The count of patients must include all patients served by the agency between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, who are18 years old or older whose care was paid for by Medicare and/or Medicaid and who received at least two (2) home health visits for skilled nursing care, physical therapy, occupational therapy, or speech therapy between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010. This includes patients enrolled in a Medicare Advantage (MA) health plan or a Medicaid managed care plan.
Patients to EXCLUDE from the count are as follows:
- patients whose care was NOT paid for by Medicare and/or Medicaid;
- patients under age 18 as of the date the patient count is submitted;
- patients who received visits for only routine maternity care between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010.
- patients who were deceased as of the date the patient count is submitted;
- patients who received hospice care during the period noted above; and
- patients who have formally requested that the agency NOT release their name and other information to anyone outside the agency.
By what date do Medicare-certified home health agencies seeking an exemption from participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for the CY2012 Annual Payment Update have to report their patient count to CMS?
Medicare-certified home health agencies seeking an exemption from participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for the CY2012 Annual Payment Update must conduct and submit their patient count by June 16, 2010.
If an agency has more than one CMS Certification Number (CCN, formerly known as the Medicare Provider Number), should the patient count include eligible patients from all CCNs, or must the agency report a count for each individual CCN?
The count must be conducted and reported separately for each CCN
How does a Medicare-certified home health agency seeking this exemption report the patient count?
Agencies seeking an exemption must report their patient count via an online form on the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey Web site located at https://homehealthcahps.org. This online form will be available from April 1, 2010, through June 16, 2010.
If my agency has fewer than 60 eligible patients from April 1, 2009, through March 31, 2010, and is exempted from participating in the HHCAHPS Survey, how long does that exemption last?
If an agency has fewer than 60 eligible patients between April 1, 2009, and March 31, 2010, it will be exempted from participating in the HHCAHPS for the CY2012 APU only. This means that the agency will not have to conduct a dry run for at least 1 month in the third quarter of CY2010 and does not have to conduct the survey on an ongoing basis from October 2010 through June 30, 2011.
More information will be available in next year's home health payment rule about exemptions for future years.
How will an agency know that CMS has received the patient count information
The HHCAHPS Coordination Team will send an e-mail message to the HHA to acknowledge receipt of the count after it has been submitted via the online form on the project Web site.
Whom do I contact if I need more information?
For more information about seeking an exemption from participating in the Home Health Care CAHPS Survey for the CY2012 payment update, contact the HHCAHPS Coordination Team at: