Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) Releases Tenth Data Interface for Hospice Home Care as CMS Moves Closer to Public Reporting

Strategic Healthcare Programs, LLCMonica Craigie, 805-963-9446

Strategic Healthcare Programs, LLC (), the leading healthcare performance improvement and benchmarking company for the post-acute market, announces the release of the tenth automated data interface between its SHPfor Hospice platform and key home care software vendors. SHP’s proprietary data interfaces expand on existing ones that currently serve the Medicare-certified home health market. Clients of SHP’s vendor partners enjoy a seamless, fully-automated connection that transmits their detailed hospice data to the SHP database, thereby avoiding time-consuming manual data entry by hospice staff. Transmitted data is analyzed and dynamically reported to hospices in real-time through reports, dashboards and drill down functionality.

Hospices face unprecedented pressure and scrutiny due to numerous federal rules and regulations. In addition to the Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement (QAPI) requirement put forth in CMS’ Conditions of Participation (CoPs), some of the challenges hospices are dealing with include changes in allowable diagnosis coding, public reporting of outcomes, an upcoming OASIS-like standard data set (HIS) and Hospice CAHPS (consumer satisfaction). In addition, competition among hospice providers has intensified and referral sources are seeking the highest quality providers. Managing these challenges requires information facilitated by automation.

According to Barbara Rosenblum, founder and CEO of SHP, “Software vendors within and outside healthcare have long recognized the importance of partnering with software solutions that meet their clients’ expanding needs. One of the key components the current and prospective clients of software vendors look for in evaluating a system is the existence of interfaces with other solutions. Vendors that commit to ensuring their clients have access to tools that meet their existing needs and will carry them into the future show vision and are the ones worthy of consideration.”

Vendor partners that currently have fully-automated hospice interfaces with SHP include: , (formerly CareAnyware), , , (formerly SOS), , , , , and . Others are in progress.

Founded in 1996, Strategic Healthcare Programs provides real-time, actionable information that informs both strategic enterprise planning and tactical operations management. Using a web-based dashboard, providers use the program to improve clinical outcomes, financial performance, patient satisfaction, and compliance with regulations. For more information, visit .