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The Department of Health and Human Services is overhauling the dataset for hospice care as it’s never done before.
HHS has upped the ante with HOPE, the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation, a new standardized assessment. As of Oct. 1, 2025, HOPE replaced the current hospice quality reporting system.
It’s the job of Sandy Griffiths, product manager at software company Homecare Homebase (HCHB), to get the reporting tool installed at an estimated 60 home health agencies.
The new mandate comes during a challenging time for home health agencies.
While hospices got a 2.6% pay increase for 2026, Medicare payments to home health agencies decreased by an estimated 1.3%. The agencies also face labor shortages.
Even with the challenges, agencies and staff are almost 100% onboard with HOPE.
“Our agencies are averaging 95% compliance,” Griffiths said.
HHS is looking at patient systems and how the care plan is supporting the patient, she said. It’s about getting better quality reporting. HCHB is promoting the efficiency of the updated automated workflow to reduce burnout and give both time and dollars back to the agency.
“We don’t want to reduce the time that the clinician is spending with the patient,” Griffiths said, “but reduce it so the documentation still supports what they need to have more quality time with the patient.”
For more, please listen to the conversation with Griffiths and Susan Morse, executive editor of Healthcare Finance News.
TALKING POINTS:
This is the first time HHS has overhauled the dataset for hospice.
Home health agencies need to meet a 90% compliance threshold for submitting timely reporting. If they fall below 90%, they’re subject to a 4% reduction in their annual payment update.
The main transition is the mandate to do reassessment of a patient at specific timepoints, from days out from the start of care, through the initial assessment, between days six and 15 and then the next two weeks.
Previously, staff only answered an assessment upon admission. There was no ongoing assessment in monitoring the care plan.
HCHB is workflow-driven and integrates automated software. They’re looking into AI, especially for more timely alerts.
Meeting mandates will depend on the level of training hospices provide to their clinicians.
MORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:
Hospice providers get 2.6% pay boost in CMS rule
Home health agencies get a 1.3% payment decrease for 2026
Leveraging technology to support aging in place
DOJ reaches proposed settlement over UnitedHealth's $3.3 billion acquisition of Amedisys
Bon Secours Mercy Health and Compassus partner for home care and hospice
Email the writer: SMorse@himss.org