On the April 2022 CMS Home Health, Hospice and DME open door forum, CMS staff shared updates on the implementation of the Home Health Value Based Purchasing (HHVBP) expansion, specifically pointing to the current website which has additional resources and will have more information in the coming weeks and month.

New resources include an in-depth look at quality measures which will be used for HHVBP. CMS created a 50-minute recorded presentation covering the ins and outs of the measures which will be used to assess home health agencies starting in January 2023.

• HHVBP Model: Quality Measures Used in the Expanded Model

CMS also created a guide on how to use existing quality assurance and performance improvement processes (QAPI) to support improvement in the expanded model.

• How to use Existing Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) Processes to Support Improvement in the Expanded HHVBP Model

There are five OASIS-based measures, two claims-based measures, and five home health CAHPS measures being used to assess agencies. Ten of the twelve quality measures have existing reports available to providers on iQIES. Publicly reported data is also available for review on Care Compare. These existing resources will help agencies understand their current performance on measures for the expanded model.

In April 2020, CMS provided a blanket waiver for QAPI programs to allow for home health agencies to focus on infection control and adverse events for QAPI requirements in response to the PHE. While this waiver is still in effect until the end of the PHE is announced, it’s time to get back to into the QAPI game focusing on the 12 core measures of the expanded HHVBP program.