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Home Health Care Quality of Patient Care Ratings

The ratings shown in the NursingHomeDatabase Home Health Care database are based on data that is compiled and calculated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid ("CMS"). There are two types of home health star ratings: Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings and Patient Survey Star Ratings. The Quality of Patient Care (QoPC) Star Rating is used to rank the home health care agenices on this list. It is based on OASIS assessments and Medicare claims data. We first posted these ratings in July 2015 and we continue to update them quarterly based on new data posted on Care Compare.

All Medicare-certified HHAs may potentially receive a Quality of Patient Care Star Rating. HHAs must have data for at least 20 complete quality episodes for each measure to be reported on Care Compare. Completed episodes are paired start or resumption of care and end of care OASIS assessments. Episodes must have an end-of-care date within the 12-month reporting period regardless of start date. To have a Quality of Patient Care Star Rating computed, HHAs must have reported data for 5 of the 7 measures used in the Quality of Patient Care Star Ratings calculation. The current methodology for calculating the Quality of Patient Care Star Rating can be accessed via the Downloads section below. This methodology will be updated periodically as additional refinements are made.

The Quality of Patient Care Star Rating methodology includes process and outcome quality measures that are currently reported on Care Compare. These measures should:

• Apply to a substantial proportion of home health patients and have sufficient data to report for a majority of home health agencies.
• Show a reasonable amount of variation among home health agencies and it should be possible for a home health agency to show improvement in performance.
• Have high face validity and clinical relevance.
• Be stable and not show substantial random variation over time.
• Have changed over time based on the results of ongoing monitoring analyses, technical expert panel input, and stakeholder feedback.

The 7 measures that are part of the Quality of Patient Star Rating are:

1. Timely Initiation of Care
2. Improvement in Ambulation
3. Improvement in Bed Transferring
4. Improvement in Bathing
5. Improvement in Shortness of Breath
6. Improvement in Management of Oral Medications
7. Acute Care Hospitalization