by Kristin Rowan, Editor

“Delay HOPE Tool Implementation,” say multiple hospice advocacy groups. LeadingAge, the National Alliance for Care at Home (The Alliance), and the National Partnership for Healthcare and Hospice Innovation (NPHI) are urging CMS to delay the transition from HIS to HOPE. The three groups sent a joint letter to Dr. Mehmet Oz, CMS Administrator, earlier this week.

The concerns over agency readiness to implement the new tool center on the new reporting platform. Hospice agencies state they don’t have all the necessary information to develop a workable tool for submission. Therefore, the agencies have asked CMS to delay the implementation of the HOPE tool. They have called on CMS to wait until six months after agencies have access to education, training, and final validation specifications.

The hospice program through CMS requires substantial reporting for payment. Hospices that do not submit the required 90% of records, they receive an annual payment penalty of 4%. Combined with lower than sustainable payment increases, the 4% penalty results in a lower reimbursement rate over prior years. The associations worry that the lack of information and education will lead to lower reporting. In turn, the lower reporting lowers reimbursement rates. For hospices that are already struggling to survive, the penalty is devastating. The letter to CMS asked to waive the timeliness requirement for two quarters after implementation.

CMS will have a Validation Utility Tool that agencies will need to use in order to ensure their software can successfully submit their data. CMS has not released the tool and indicates they may not until sometime in September. The HOPE tool is scheduled for implementation in October. There is not enough time between release of the validity tool and implementation of the HOPE tool for proper testing.

In addition to validating data submission, hospice agencies have to enroll in the new submission portal, iQUIES. Enrollment requires a privacy security official and other staff. Additionally, it requires an application to access the system, background checks, and other actions. Thus far, hospice agencies do not have access to begin this process and there is no indication of how long it will take. The associations are concerned that the process may also involve significant financial cost to hospice agencies.

CMS released the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) Guidance Manual v1.01, a 138 page PDF, available here. The manual includes links to other resources for hospice agencies. Namely, a webpage with information on HOPE Data Submission Specifications has a “final” version of data specs available for download. Additionally, there are links to the Main Page here and technical information and updates here. The document urges vendors to register to get updates and important announcements.

There is no information yet as to a response to the letter from CMS. Thus far, CMS is still planning on keeping the October 1, 2025 HOPE implementation date. We will continue to report on updates from CMS and the advocacy groups.

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Kristin Rowan has been working at The Rowan Report since 2008. She is the owner and Editor-in-chief of The Rowan Report, the industry’s most trusted source for care at home news, and speaker on Artificial Intelligence and Lone Worker Safety and state and national conferences.

She also runs Girard Marketing Group, a multi-faceted boutique marketing firm specializing in content creation, social media management, and event marketing.  Connect with Kristin directly kristin@girardmarketinggroup.com or www.girardmarketinggroup.com

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