Section 1814(i)(5) of the Act added by
section 3004 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act,
Pub. L. 111 148, enacted on March 23, 2010 (Affordable Care Act),
authorizes the Secretary to establish a quality reporting program
for Hospices. Section 1814(i)(5)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act
requires that the Secretary, beginning with FY 2014, reduce the
market basket update by 2 percentage points for any hospice that
does not submit quality data submission for a fiscal year. We are
requesting approval, under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, of
a revised internet based, data submission form that hospice
providers will use to submit quality measures data to CMS for the
Hospice Quality Reporting Program (Hospice QRP). Use of this
revised internet data submission form shall begin during the second
Hospice QRP reporting period which shall take place from 10/01/2012
through 12/31/2012. Thereafter, the revised hospice data submission
form shall be used for all subsequent data collection timeframes,
which shall commence on January 1st and end on December 31st each
year. To meet the quality reporting requirements which were set
forth in the Hospice Wage Index Final Rule (76 F.R. Vol. 76, No.
150, August 4, 2011), hospices are to report quality data
pertaining to two quality measures: (1) a structural measure titled
"Participation in a Quality Assessment and Performance Improvement
(QAPI) Program that Includes at Least Three Quality Indicators
Related to Patient Care" and; (2) the NQF endorsed #0209 pain
measure which is further described as: the percentage of patients
who report being uncomfortable because of pain at the initial
assessment (after admission to hospice services) who report pain
was brought to a comfortable level within 48 hours.
The reporting period which took
place between 10/01/2011 and 12/31/2011 was completed on
01/31/2012. The reporting period which affects the APU for FY 2014
is 10/01/2012 to 12/31/2012. There will be a change in burden
caused by the addition of a second quality measure to the Hospice
Quality Reporting Program, upon which providers will have to
collect & submit data. The addition of this measure was already
finalized in the FY 2012 Hospice Wage Index Final Rule. The data
collection submission format must be revised to allow for the
collection of the additional data.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.