Hospices will be required to implement the new Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) assessment tool on October 1, 2025. HOPE will take the place of the current Hospice Item Set (HIS) assessment tool utilized today. So, what does that mean for Hospices today? Over all there are new assessment timepoints that must be completed, along with new data elements, but questions remain regarding submissions of the assessments.

The hospice industry is preparing for a significant transformation. On October 1, 2025, the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool will replace the Hospice Item Set (HIS), a historic change in the way hospices collect and evaluate quality data. Developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), HOPE aims to enhance care delivery by providing a more patient-centered, outcomes-driven approach for hospice evaluation. What does this transition mean for hospice professionals? This article takes a deep dive into HOPE's development process, the challenges it addresses, and the milestones leading to this significant shift.

Hospice agencies nationwide are navigating significant updates to the CAHPS-Hospice Satisfaction Survey, and we’re here to help. Introducing the CAHPS-Hospice Satisfaction Survey Crosswalk Guide, a pivotal resource designed to simplify these changes and support your quality improvement efforts. This guide breaks down the latest CMS updates, offering clear explanations to help your team better understand the adjustments and align your processes accordingly. By leveraging this resource, you will improve survey comprehension and equip your team to refine care strategies based on actionable insights.

The shift from the HIS to the HOPE assessment brings important changes for hospice agencies, and we’re here to ensure your team is prepared. We’re proud to announce the release of the HIS to HOPE Crosswalk Guide, a vital resource designed to facilitate a smooth and confident transition. This comprehensive guide provides a detailed side-by-side comparison of HIS and HOPE assessment items, highlighting key updates and timelines. By using this resource, your agency can enhance accuracy, streamline processes, and uphold the highest standards of care—all while maintaining compliance with the new requirements.

The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to recognize home health and hospice providers that consistently provide outstanding performance in patient and caregiver satisfaction. SHP would like to congratulate the 2023 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been acknowledged for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2023 calendar year.

BerryDunn is pleased to announce that the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) has joined the firm in launching a research study and quality improvement project aimed at helping home health and hospice agencies improve patient and family satisfaction. In addition, Strategic Health Programs (SHP), a leading data analytics and benchmarking company, will play a pivotal role in facilitating streamlining data for the project.

The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to recognize home health and hospice providers that consistently provide outstanding performance in patient and caregiver satisfaction. SHP would like to congratulate the 2022 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been acknowledged for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2022 calendar year.

CMS shared the details of the new Hospice Special Focus Program (SFP) in the CMS Home Health Prospective Payment System Proposed Rule posted in the Federal Register on July 10th. While expected, CMS often adds rule-making for non-home health services when either timing or urgency makes it necessary. Based on the scrutiny Hospice has been under from numerous OIG reports and the negative publicity from articles written by ProPublica and the New Yorker, Hospice has been in the crosshairs of increased oversight.

The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to recognize home health and hospice providers that consistently provide outstanding performance in patient and caregiver satisfaction. SHP would like to congratulate the 2021 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been acknowledged for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2021 calendar year.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released their annual Hospice Wage and Payment Rate proposed rule for FY 2022 in the Federal Register on April 14 and there was plenty of updates regarding the HQRP. Many were expected but the one I found noteworthy is the addition of public reporting for a new CAHPS Hospice Survey Star Rating.

CMS recently announced some changes that will be implemented in the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP). For one, they are proposing to replace the Hospice Visits when Death is Imminent Measure Pair (HVWDII) with one new claims-based measure, Hospice Visits in the Last Days of Life (HDVDL). Another big announcement is that after the November 2020 refresh, Hospice Compare data will be frozen until February 2022. Hospices will need access to real-time quality scores to guide and enhance their quality improvement programs.

The annual SHPBest™ award program was created to recognize home health and hospice providers that consistently provide outstanding performance in patient and caregiver satisfaction. SHP would like to congratulate the 2019 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been acknowledged for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2019 calendar year.

The annual SHPBest™ recognition program was created to acknowledge home health and hospice providers that consistently provide high quality service. SHP would like to congratulate the 2018 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been recognized for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2018 calendar year.

On April 25th, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) posted their proposed FY 2020 payment rule for hospice on the Federal Register. In our blog we summarize what you need to know such as the potential rate impact between 2019 and 2020, additions to Hospice Compare, and new “high priority” measures they are considering adding to their Hospice Quality Reporting transparency.

SHP recently made improvements to the hospice portion of the Dashboard to include a new widget and two new preconfigured views that display quality measures for all of the same data types as the Hospice Scorecard, including: Provider, Case Manager, Team, Primary Diagnosis Category, and many more. Aside from the ability to group by all of our standard data types, the new widget can also be configured to report on all 22 of the HQRP and CAHPS quality measures available in our reporting.

The annual SHPBest recognition program was created to acknowledge home health and hospice providers that consistently provide high quality service. SHP would like to congratulate the 2017 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been recognized for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2017 calendar year.

On April 28th, CMS issued the FY 2019 Hospice Payment and Quality Reporting proposed rule. Along with the typical annual payment updates, there were new proposals to the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) for consideration, but no mention of the Hospice Evaluation and Reporting Tool (HEART).

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released the new Hospice Compare website in August. The data shows how important it is to track and manage your performance improvement program with real-time scores. With a 9 month delay expected in Hospice Compare data, your scores today will be part of the CMS benchmark through June 2019. Hospices should evaluate their highest and lowest performers for identifying best practices and remedial training accordingly.

The annual SHPBest recognition program was created to acknowledge home health and hospice providers that consistently provide high quality service. We are pleased to announce the 2016 SHP Best-of-the-Best winners, who have been recognized for achieving the highest overall HHCAHPS patient satisfaction or CAHPS Hospice caregiver satisfaction scores of all eligible SHP clients during the 2016 calendar year.

Strategic Healthcare Programs (SHP) has released a new first-in-class comprehensive Hospice Scorecard Report suite. As hospice providers and their referral sources continue their focus on quality and with the upcoming public reporting of hospice scores, the need for real-time data increases. SHP’s Scorecard suite will enhance hospice customers’ capability to measure, manage and report on quality metrics.

2017 will be an important year for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP). CMS plans to publicly share quality scores on a Hospice Compare website starting this year. On January 18th, CMS provided a full day of training to providers in Baltimore to share information on HQRP. Along with this on-site presentation, CMS live-streamed the event online to allow as many hospices as possible to participate. Here are some of the highlights...

Now that a full year of CAHPS Hospice data from the SHP database is available, we would like to share those results with you.

The rule includes two new quality measures and a new Hospice Item Set (HIS). CMS also reported that a star rating is coming soon.

To be ready for public reporting, hospices must start working now to ensure that these previously ineligible patients are meeting all applicable quality measures.

January 1, 2016 marks the start of the new Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) regulation on how hospices are reimbursed.

Home Health Line publishes article using SHP's new survey results from 15,000 surveys and over 1,000 providers.

For many years Hospice has been under the radar, but not anymore.

Home Health Line publishes article using SHP preliminary CAHPS® Hospice data.

We’re excited to be able to share the benchmarks from the first four months of CAHPS Hospice data so you can see which quality measures are getting positive results and where there is some real opportunity for improvement!

Home Health Line publishes article using SHP's Hospice HIS data

In the first three months since the implementation of the Hospice Item Set (HIS), all but one of the 7 CMS Quality Measures have improved since July 2014.

SHP is an approved CAHPS® Vendor and began providing survey administration for early adopters on September 1, 2014.

SHP's new real-time Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) reports help you get ahead of the curve and proactively intervene where improvement is in order.

Download SHP's detailed FEHC-to-CAHPS® Hospice Crosswalk for free

SHP's data and other studies show that hospice care reduces costs and, as evaluated by consumers, consistently provides high quality care.

CMS has put its final stamp of approval on the Hospice Item Set (HIS). Now you need to get your hospice ready. Here’s how.

Using data collected from SHP clients who are using our hospice data analysis and benchmarking solution, we were able to fairly closely approximate the HIS measures and determine how well hospices are documenting their care and processes in key areas covered by the new item set.

Software vendors within and outside healthcare have long recognized the importance of partnering with software solutions that meet their clients’ expanding needs. One of the key components the current and prospective clients of software vendors look for in evaluating a system is the existence of interfaces with other solutions. Vendors that commit to ensuring their clients have access to tools that meet their existing needs and will carry them into the future show vision and are the ones worthy of consideration.

The interface will soon provide a similar seamless transmission of patient information used by SHP to survey families about their satisfaction with the hospice and bereavement services they received.

Delta hospice clients now have access to a seamless, automated connection that eliminates both manual data entry and file upload.

Although many agencies initially fought OASIS, most would be reluctant to give it up today and lose the valuable clinical insights gained through its use.

With additional public reporting on the way for both home health and hospice, as well as performance-driven payment and stiffer competition, providers have to work differently than they have in the past.

Too many patients are admitted in the final 72 hours of life, creating havoc and distress for patients, family members and hospice providers.