Home health agencies will now be rated by the government in the same way as other care providers with the addition of patient satisfaction survey data. The data will be presented in the same five-star system used by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on all of its other comparative sites.
CMS added the home health consumer assessment of healthcare providers and systems (HHCAHPS) star ratings to the Home Health Compare Web site as part of an initiative to simplify quality information across all CMS Compare sites. Home Health Compare is a user-friendly Web tool that provides information on how well Medicare-certified home health agencies provide care to their patients.
In 2015, CMS introduced star ratings for OASIS quality of patient care measures on Home Health Compare. The latest update to Home Health Compare introduces star ratings for patient experience of care survey results data from the HHCAHPS survey.
The HHCAHPS survey is a standardized 34-question survey that measures patients’ experiences and perspectives of their home health care. The survey results posted on Home Health Compare provide ratings with comparisons to state and national averages that help stakeholders understand how home health care patients rate their experiences with the agencies providing their care.
The star ratings do not add new underlying data or replace any data that is currently posted on Home Health Compare; rather, they summarize agency performance on survey items that were already being reported. HHCAHPS star ratings range from one to five, with five being the highest rating and reflecting better patient experiences. Consumers will now find five HHCAHPS star rating categories on Home Health Compare:
- Care of patients
- Communication between providers and patients
- Specific care issues
- Overall rating of care provided by the HHA, and
- Survey summary star rating.
The scores underlying the HHCAHPS ratings are adjusted for the effects of patient mix.
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