HJBR Mar/Apr 2023

HEALTHCARE JOURNAL OF BATON ROUGE I  MAR / APR 2023 31 Editor’s Note: Recently, CMS sought to develop new quality measures (QM) to provide more information to better reflect care processes during a hospice stay and allow patients, families, and caregivers to make informed decisions. This new measure, the Hospice Care Index (which CMS also refers to as the HCI), is a QM comprising multiple indicators from Medicare claims data that are collected during a hospice stay. The index augments the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) with new measurement domains that were either directly recommended by other federal agencies for CMS to publicly report or identified as areas for improvement during information gathering. The index currently monitors 10 indicators simultaneously, rather than measuring only a single aspect of care. This index characterizes hospices holistically, ensuring reliable provider rankings. 1 The HCI helps consumers and referring providers to differentiate between hospices and identify hospice providers who consistently underperform. Indicators included in the HCI are: CHC (Continuous Home Care) or GIP (General Inpatient) provided; gaps in skilled nursing visits; early live discharges; late live discharges; burdensome transitions (type 1) — live discharges from hospice followed by hospitalization and subsequent hospice readmission; burdensome transitions (type 2) — live discharges from hospice followed by hospitalization with the patient dying in the hospital; per-beneficiary Medicare spending; skilled nursing care minutes per routine hospice care (RHC) day; skilled nursing minutes on weekend RHC days; and visits near death. Claims-Based Indicators Contributing to the Hospice Care Index CCN Facility Name Address City Zip Code Parish Phone Number Score 191607 Amedisys Hospice 3854 American Way, Suite C Baton Rouge 70816 East Baton Rouge (225) 751-4599 10 191674 Amedisys Hospice 4021-B Ambassador Caffery Parkway, Suite 101 Lafayette 70503 Lafayette (337) 988-9778 10 191604 Christus Hospice & Pallia- tive Care St Patrick 1130 Pithon St Ste 101 Lake Charles 70601 Calcasieu (337) 395-5650 10 191668 Egan Hospice 121 Park Place, Suite 2, Covington 70433 St. Tammany (985) 467-5883 10 191571 Enhabit Hospice Of Vidalia 1653 Carter Street Vidalia 71373 Concordia (318) 336-8989 10 191611 Heart Of Hospice 14777 Hwy 90 Front- age Road Franklin 70538 St. Mary (337) 828-2678 10 191594 Heart Of Hospice, LLC 10528 Kentshire Ct Baton Rouge 70810 East Baton Rouge (225) 412-2614 10 191638 Heart Of Hospice, LLC 900 S College Rd. Ste 300 Lafayette 70503 Lafayette (337) 232-8159 10 191510 Hope Healthcare & Hospice Bc, LLC 205 Bayou Gardens Boulevard, Suite E Houma 70364 Terrebonne (985) 868-3095 10 191500 Hospice Of Acadiana Inc 2600 Johnston Street, Suite 200 Lafayette 70503 Lafayette (337) 232-1234 10 191621 Hospice Specialists of Louisiana 1761 Physician'S Park Ave., Ste A Baton Rouge 70816 East Baton Rouge (985) 262-7590 10 1 Hospice Care Index Technical Report. Abt Associates for Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. July 1, 2022. https://www.cms.gov/files/document/hospice-care-index-hci-techni- cal-reportjuly-2022.pdf Exhibit ES.1: Claims-Based Indicators Contributing to the Hospice Care Index. Hospice Care Index Technical Report (July 1, 2022): 3.