The July 2023 Home Health Interim Performance Report: What to Expect

Starting in July of 2023, CMS will be releasing quarterly Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) as a way to help home health agencies assess their recent quality measure performance and have a chance to make improvements in time to optimize reimbursements under the home health value-based care payment (HHVBP) model. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the purpose of these reports and what to expect.

What is the purpose of the interim reports?

The IPRs will deliver scores for key performance measures ahead of your agency’s final total performance score (TPS) for CY 2023 that will determine payments in 2025. They’re intended to help agencies better understand which components of HHVBP they might be struggling with in time to make targeted improvements that optimize outcomes and payments. While the data included in the 2023 IPRs will provide insight on your agency’s performance in HHVBP to date, only your final TPS for 2023 will officially count toward payments in 2025.

The IPR data will allow agencies to assess and track performance relative to peers in their assigned cohorts and will include individual outcome measure results so that agencies can see how they rank for each of those measures.

What will be included in the July 2023 report?

Not to be confused with pre-implementation reports released in 2022, the July IPR is the first official performance report released for the 2023 HHVBP expansion. It will include the achievement thresholds and benchmarks from 2022 established in the 2022 final rule.

The July 2023 IPR will report performance scores for OASIS-based measures, claims-based measures, and HHCAHPS survey-based measures. The information included will cover 12 rolling months, with OASIS data encompassing the last nine months of 2022 and the first three months of 2023 (ending March 31, 2023) and the claims-based and HHCAHPS data encompassing all 12 months of 2022 (ending December 31, 2022).

In addition, the July IPR will include:

• An interim TPS along with the individual measure performance scores.
• Improvement, Achievement, and Care Points reflecting an agency’s performance relative to the performance of other agencies in your cohort, including the achievement thresholds and benchmarks for that cohort.
• A Total Normalized Composite (TNC) Change Reference tab to assist agencies in understanding performance on the individual OASIS items included in the two TNC measures.
• Scores corresponding to individual measures to support agencies in understanding how each measure contributes to their interim TPS.

Where can I find more information?

Here are some helpful resources:

• CMS is hosting the webinar “Overview of the Interim Performance Report (IPR): The July 2023 IPR” on July 27, 2023 at 11 AM PST to help agencies navigate the IPR.
• The CMS June 2023 HHVBP Newsletter includes helpful guidance on the July IPR.
• CMS has also published a sample Interim Performance Report for agencies to reference.

How MedBridge Can Help

After your agency analyzes your scores in the key performance areas measured on the IPR, you’ll be able to identify whether there are any areas you’d like to improve. From there, the MedBridge Home Health Value-Based Care Solution can help your agency optimize reimbursements and drive better outcomes with high-quality staff education and patient engagement resources. With our solution, your agency can:

Improve OASIS Accuracy
Reduce OASIS errors to ensure accurate outcomes and reimbursement by:

• Efficiently onboarding staff with our full-scope 10-course OASIS training series.
• Reinforcing training with short microlearning courses to remediate common errors.
• Streamlining assignment, tracking, and reporting with an intuitive Learning Management System.

Reduce ED and Hospital Utilization
Improve chronic condition management, reduce falls, and decrease medication errors by:

• Elevating your care team to manage complex conditions with education on CHF, COPD, diabetes, and cancer.
• Improving patient self-management with effective patient education, exercises, and remote communication tools.
• Preparing managers to better support clinicians with leadership and change management training.

Boost HHCAHPS Scores
Elevate patient satisfaction by:

• Training clinical and non-clinical staff on customer service skills with targeted microlearning courses.
• Establishing good patient rapport with courses focusing on communication and HHCAHPS.
• Building a strong therapeutic alliance with digital engagement and communication tools.