The healthcare industry is constantly evolving, and staying compliant with new regulations is a top priority for all organizations.

Raianne Melton, Director of Clinical Services at Axxess, discussed the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) focus on hospice CAHPS and 2025 regulatory updates.

CMS Focus on CAHPS

CMS is focusing on home health and hospice return rates, with a goal for organizations to meet or exceed the national average of 25%. Achieving the goal is important for healthcare providers to maintain their reimbursement rates and overall financial health.

Improvement in CAHPS return rates means more responses from clients. More responses help hospices by providing a clearer picture of perceptions of care and identifying trends, which supports quality improvement.

“The national average is 25%,” explained Melton. “And generally, our [Axxess] CAHPS solution, if they’re using all our tools, will easily exceed that 25%.”

Melton stressed the penalty for failing to participate in the CAHPS Hospice Survey. It could potentially lead to a 4% reduction in Medicare revenue for each episode.

2025 CAHPS Regulatory Updates

Regulatory updates are set to take place in 2025, introducing new protocols and measures aimed at enhancing patient care and data collection.

Changes to the hospice final rule include:

• Addition of a Web-Mail Mode: A new survey method using an email process to improve response rates.
• New Care Preferences Measure: A two-item measure focusing on patient care preferences.
• Revised Hospice Team Communication and Hospice Care Training Measures: Enhancements based on recent survey experiments.
• Removal of Three Nursing Home Items: Adjustments to align with broader survey improvements.
• Revised Administration Protocols: Implementation of a pre-notification letter and an extension of the field period from 42 to 49 days.

“The introduction of an additional week to the survey period is a promising development that could significantly improve response rates,” said Melton.

Axxess Hospice, a cloud-based hospice software, includes simple tools such as intuitive medication management and real-time plan of care updates to help keep organizations compliant, and offers a direct connection to Axxess CAHPS for all hospice survey needs.