Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare MLN Connects has provided a Fact Sheet: Creating an Effective Hospice Plan of Care that hospice providers will want to review and share with their team. “The hospice Plan of Care (POC) maps out needs and services supplied for a Medicare patient facing a terminal illness,…… Continue reading Creating an Effective Hospice Plan of Care

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare As part of the development of hospice quality measures, Abt Associates, under contract with CMS, convened a Technical Expert Panel (TEP).  This report provides a summary of their first in-person, November 2019 TEP Meeting.  It includes background on the focus of this TEP and purpose of…… Continue reading Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) November 2019 Technical Expert Panel (TEP) Report

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides a web-based training course for hospices wanting a resource to the many trainings offered related to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP).  The goal is to assist hospice staff to better determine and access those trainings and…… Continue reading Web-Based Course on Hospice QRP Education and Training Resources by Topic with Hotlinks for Easy Access Now Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On July 31, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a final rule CMS-1733-F      that updates fiscal year (FY) 2021 Medicare payment rates and the wage index for hospices serving Medicare beneficiaries. CMS is publishing this final rule consistent with the legal requirements to update…… Continue reading Hospice FY2021 Final Rule Issued

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare The Q4FY19 release of the Hospice Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) with statistics through September 2019 is now available for download through the PEPPER Resources Portal. To obtain your Hospice PEPPER, the Chief Executive Officer, President, Administrator, Compliance Officer, or Quality Assurance/Performance Improvement Officer of…… Continue reading Hospice PEPPER Now Available

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDPClinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare A 4-page Tip Sheet on the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP): COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) is available. This tip sheet provides guidance on quality data submissions starting on July 1, 2020, when the temporary exemptions from the COVID-19 PHE end.  See the HQRP Requirements and…… Continue reading Hospice Quality Reporting Program: COVID-19 PHE

Mary Madison, RN, RAC-CT, CDP Clinical Consultant – Briggs Healthcare On March 9, 2020, CMS posted QSO-20-16-Hospice to provide guidance to hospice agencies to appropriately respond to COVID-19 concerns. The 7-page document provides information on these specific questions: Which patients are at risk for severe disease from COVID-19? How should providers screen visitors and patients…… Continue reading Guidance for Infection Control and Prevention Concerning COVID-19 – Hospice Agencies