CMS and their contractor, Abt Associates, are recruiting additional Medicare-certified hospice providers to participate in a beta test of the draft hospice patient assessment instrument called Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation (HOPE). Recruitment is ongoing and training will occur on a rolling basis. Data collection begins when training is completed and is expected to continue through fall 2022. While any Medicare-certified hospice can participate, the tested does require certain staffing expectations which hospice members will need to consider before committing to testing.
- Testing requires 1-2 joint visits per week between different disciplines
- CMS anticipates hospices will need 6-8 registered nurses, 3-4 social workers, and 3-4 chaplains
- For joint visits, two registered nurses visit one patient at the same time to complete the HOPE nurse assessment
- Two social workers visit the patient at the same time to complete the HOPE social work assessment
- Two chaplains visit the patient at the same time to complete the HOPE chaplain assessment
- One of the two registered nurses, social workers and chaplains may attend their joint visit via video call, such as Zoom
- HOPE assessments are completed at hospice admission, for symptom reassessment and at live discharge
Those interested in participating should email HOPETesting@abtassoc.com. The detailed recruitment announcement is available on CMS’s Hospice QRP Provider and Stakeholder Engagement webpage.
