Hospice/Home Health -- additional resources

Listed below are additional resources identified specifically for hospice/home health care:

CMS resources

• Visit the Hospice Center on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.
• Visit the Home Health Agency (HHA) Center on the CMS website.
• Regional home health and hospice intermediary (RHHI) for Florida
• Regional home health and hospice intermediary (RHHI) for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands
• Beneficiary notices -- Both Medicare beneficiaries and providers have certain rights and protections related to financial liability under the Medicare program. These financial liability and appeal rights and protections are communicated to beneficiaries through notices given by providers.
• CMS Certification & Compliance
• CMS Conditions for Coverage (CfCs) & Conditions of Participation (CoPs) -- CMS develops these health and safety standards that health care organizations must meet in order to begin and continue participating in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.
• CMS Hospice overview webpage -- provides an overview and additional information regarding hospice care and payment.
• CMS Home Health PPS overview webpage -- provides an overview and additional information regarding home health care and payment.
• Hospice PPS PC Pricer webpage -- provides Pricer information for facilities providing hospice services to Medicare beneficiaries.
• HH PPS PC Pricer webpage -- provides Pricer information for facilities providing home health services to Medicare beneficiaries.
• Hospice provider ID and contact information
• Home Health Coding and Billing Information  webpage -- provides home health coding and billing information, including home health wage index files and consolidated billing master code list.
• Hospice Wage Index webpage -- provides hospice wage index files.
• Quality incentives and innovation models
  • Home Health Care Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HHCAHPS) Survey -- offers home health providers a tool for understanding and improving the experiences of people receiving home health care from Medicare-certified home health agencies.
  • CAHPS Hospice Survey -- survey designed to measure and assess the experiences of patients who died while receiving hospice care and their primary informal caregivers. Results of the survey are released quarterly through the Hospice Compare website.
  • Home health quality reporting program -- This website provides information on quality programs for home health as well as performance data by home health agencies through the Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS) and links to quality reporting on Home Health Compare.
  • Hospice quality reporting -- This website provides consumer and provider information regarding the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP), including data submitted by hospices through the Hospice Item Set (HIS) and the Hospice CAHPS®.

Professional associations

The resources below are external to First Coast and CMS, but are being offered for your convenience. First Coast and CMS are not responsible for the content or maintenance of these external sites. 

• American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine (AAHPM)
• American Medical Association (AMA)
• Florida Hospice & Palliative Care Association (FHPCA)
• Florida Medical Association (FMA)
• Home Care Association of America (HCAOA)
• Home Care Association of Florida (HCAF)
• Medical Group Management Association (MGMA)
• National Alliance for Care at Home
• National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO)
• Puerto Rico Hospice and Palliative Care Association, Inc. (PRHPCA) 

General resources

• Florida Department of Health
• MedWatch -- Food and Drug Administration (FDA) medical recalls
• National Hospice Foundation
• National Institutes of Health
• PubMed
• Puerto Rico Department of Health (Departamento de Salud de Puerto Rico)
• U.S. Virgin Islands Department of Health website