Average total skilled nurse minutes provided by hospices on all Routine Home Care service days: the total number of skilled nurse minutes provided by the hospice on all Routine Home Care service days divided by the total number of Routine Home Care days the hospice serviced.

Total skilled nursing minutes provided by a hospice on all Routine Home Care service days within a reporting period. Claims-based calculation details: Identify nursing visits by the presence of revenue code 055x (Skilled Nursing) on the claim. This indicator includes both registered nurse (RN) and licensed practical nurse (LPN) visits to recognise the frequency of skilled nursing visits and to maintain consistency in HCI when using revenue centre code 055x; Count skilled nursing visits where the corresponding revenue centre date overlaps with one of the days of Routine Home Care previously identified; Calculate the minutes of skilled nursing visits by taking the corresponding revenue centre units and multiplying by 15. For each hospice, sum together all skilled nursing minutes provided on Routine Home Care days and divide by the sum of Routine Home Care days.

The total number of Routine Home Care days provided by a hospice within a reporting period. Claims-based calculation details: Identify Routine Home Care days by the presence of revenue code 0651 on the hospice claim; Identify the dates of Routine Home Care service by the corresponding revenue centre date (which identifies the first day of Routine Home Care) and the revenue centre units (which identifies the number of days of Routine Home Care (including the first day of Routine Home Care).

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Data Source: Hospice Medicare claims data. Data are obtained from provider submitted claims for the information needed to calculate the measure, so providers do not submit any additional data to CMS. CMS will use 2 years of Medicare claims data (8 quarters) to calculate the measure.
The ten indicators contribute to the HCI score as follows: Each HCI indicator has its own numerator, denominator, and resulting indicator score. A hospice's given indicator score relative to an Index Earned Point Criterion determines whether the hospice earns a point for that indicator towards the full index score; Index Earned Point Criteria were set based on CMS' statistical analysis of national hospice performance to ensure meaningful distinction between hospices; Hospices' HCI scores are calculated as the total number of Index Earned Points across the ten indicators and can range from a perfect 10 to a 0. All hospices with at least 20 claims during the sample period have indicator scores calculated.

Public reporting

Hospice Care Index Technical Report: www.cms.gov/files/document/hospice-care-index-hci-technical-reportjuly-2022.pdf. Date cited 12/10/23. CMS Current Measures: www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/hospice/current-measures. Date cited 12/10/23.

www.cms.gov/files/document/hqrp-qm-users-manual-v100oct2021.pdf

This measure is linked to the Hospice Care Index (HCI) measure.