Hospice Quality Reporting Program

Overview

This website provides information regarding the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) as required by Section 1814(i)(5) of the Social Security Act. This is the official website for providers to receive updates and announcements related to the HQRP. The Secretary is authorized to establish quality reporting requirements for hospice programs and is also required to publicly report quality measures that relate to the care provided by hospice programs across the country on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) website.

Important subdirectory pages are shown on the left side of the webpage. Providers are encouraged to bookmark the web address and visit the website regularly to stay up-to-date with all information related to the HQRP. In addition to the CMS HQRP website, providers can sign up for listservs pertinent to the HQRP by visiting the Provider and Stakeholder Engagement webpage.

What is the HQRP?

The HQRP was established under section 1814(i)(5) of the Social Security Act. The HQRP includes data submitted by hospices through the Hospice Item Set (HIS) data collection tool, data from Medicare hospice claims, and an experience of care survey, the Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Survey. All Medicare-certified hospice providers must comply with these reporting requirements. The HQRP is currently “pay-for-reporting,” meaning it is the timely submission and acceptance of complete data that determines compliance with HQRP requirements. The Performance level is not a consideration when determining market basket updates referred to as Annual Payment Updates (APU). Reporting compliance is determined by successfully fulfilling both the individual requirements of HIS and CAHPS® and the submission of administrative data (Medicare claims).

*The data source for the claims-based measures is Medicare claims data that are already collected and submitted to CMS.

Penalties for Failure to Report

Since fiscal year (FY) 2014, the failure of hospices to comply with quality data reporting requirements results in a percentage-point reduction to the APU for the corresponding FY. Effective with the FY 2022 Final Rule, beginning with the FY 2024 APU and for each subsequent year, the APU penalty is increased from 2% to 4% for hospices that do not comply with the HQRP for that FY.

Public Availability of Reported Data

Care Compare on Medicare.gov is the official CMS website for publicly reporting quality measures for care provided by hospice and other health care providers. This site, which replaced the original Hospice Compare in 2020, was created to help consumers compare hospice providers’ performance and assist consumers in making decisions that are right for them. You can search and download the publicly reported data displayed on Care Compare in the Provider Data Catalog on CMS.gov.

Hospice Quality Reporting Program Archives