Home Health Quality of Care: Create Meaningful Distinctions Across Agencies, Says CMS

Why This Topic Matters

The article explains changes to how home health quality will be displayed to the public and how agencies will be evaluated on survey-based and clinical measures. Understanding the update helps stakeholders anticipate reporting timelines, preview periods, and the broader structure of CMS quality display for home health.

Article Sections

1. 2 Different Ratings — For Now

   This section outlines CMS’s plan to display separate home health ratings for different categories of reported information and discusses how the website will distinguish them. It also covers the possibility of a future combined rating.

2. Drill Down For Individual Measure Scores

   This section summarizes the individual measure groupings that will appear alongside the summary ratings and describes the reporting period and minimum survey volume requirements. It also addresses the general method CMS says it will use to assign star levels and review the data over time.

3. Timeline. Recommendation star omitted. CAHPS surveys.

   This section covers the preview timing for agencies, the omission of one currently reported survey item from the star display, and a note about how patients are selected for survey outreach. It also points readers to CMS materials for additional background.