Section 3004(c) of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), (which added section
1814(i)(5) to the Social Security Act) ), authorized the Secretary
to establish a quality reporting program for hospices. Section
1814(i)(5)(A)(i) of the Social Security Act required 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. During the first "mandatory"
reporting period, hospices were required to gather 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 National Quality Forum
(NQF)-endorsed #0209 pain measure. Hospice providers were then
required to report their data between 01/01/2012 and 04/01/2012 In
the CY 2013 HH PPS final rule (77 FR 67132 through 67136), CMS
retained the two measures that had previously been adopted in the
FY 2012 rule. Hospices will continue to collect data for these
measures until December 31, 2013. Beginning on July, 1, 2014,
hospices shall begin to collect quality measure data using a newly
created set of data elements which are collectively titled as the
"Hospice Item Set." The Hospice Item Set, which was developed
specifically for use in the hospice setting, contains data elements
that are used to collect standardized, patient-level data. This
data can be used, at a later date, to calculate six NQF-endorsed
quality measures and a modification of one NQF-endorsed measure.
For more details about the Hospice Item Set, refer to Section 1 of
the Supporting Statement A.
The first reporting period in
which the new Hospice Item Set will be implemented will begin on
July, 1, 2014 and end on December 31, 2014. This Hospice Item Set
will be used in each subsequent reporting periods thereafter. There
will be a change in the burden caused by the revision of the
currently existing ICR as well as changes in the measures used with
the Hospice Quality Reporting Program.
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.