In accordance with the Affordable Care Act, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has put hospices and long-term care hospitals (LTCHs) on notice that they will have to start reporting quality data over the next few years or lose part of their Medicare reimbursement.
In a notice published in the Federal Register on Sept. 2, CMS proposed that the hospice program start with a voluntary reporting period from Oct. 1, 2011 through Dec. 31, 2011, with data to be reported to CMS by Jan. 31, 2012.
Hospices will be required to report quality data for discharges from Oct. 1, 2012 through Dec. 31, 2012, with the data to be submitted by April 1, 2013. After that, their reporting periods will coincide with calendar years.
LTCHs that fail to submit quality data may be subject to penalties equivalent to up to 2 percent of their Medicare reimbursement, starting in 2014. While there are no standard data sets for LTCHs, the CMS document observes, the agency will begin with measurement of LTCH care for pressure ulcers.
To learn more:
- read the notice in the Federal Register
- see the Health Data Management article