What Is Medicare Care Compare? Does Medicare Rank Hospice Providers?

Medicare ranks hospice providers based on a number of quality measures, including a star-rating system based on responses from caregivers to the family caregiver experience survey. Also known as the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems Hospice survey, it measures the quality of care in six different domains, including:

• Communication with family caregivers
• Timeliness of help
• Respect for the patient
• Emotional and spiritual support
• Treatment of pain
• Family/caregiver training

Additionally, the survey measures two global dimensions of care, the family’s overall rating of the hospice and their willingness to recommend the hospice to others. 

Medicare aggregates the responses of family caregivers for each participating hospice and provides the results on Care Compare, a service offered by the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that provides information on hospice providers, hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies and other health care providers located throughout the United States. The website provides general information, such as the type of facility, the location, how many patients the hospice serves on average per day and how long the hospice has been providing care. It also indicates whether the hospice is a for-profit or non-profit entity and ranks each participating hospice on quality measures set by CMS. The site does not, however, have information on every hospice provider currently operating in the U.S. 

To use Hospice Compare, go to Medicare.gov/Care Compare, then:

• Select Hospice from the menu on the left, then enter your ZIP code in the box marked My Location, and click Search. (If you want to look at a specific provider you may enter the name on this page as well.) A list of providers in your area should appear. 
• To compare providers side-by-side, click the box labeled “Compare” next to each provider you would like to include. When you have selected all the providers you want to see, click the white box labeled “Compare” at the top right of the page. 
• A new page will open. At the top will be the name and phone numbers of the selected providers and the type of organization (nonprofit or for-profit). Below this will be a side-by-side comparison of the providers, starting with the date each agency was certified by Medicare. 
• Next, choose one or more of the categories listed to compare the agencies side by side. The categories should be:
  • Conditions Treated— lists the most common conditions treated by the provider by percentage and compares them to the national average. 
  • Location of care — e.g. home, nursing home, assisted living, inpatient hospital, inpatient hospice or others
  • Level of care provided — e.g. routine home care only or routine home care plus at least one additional level of care 
  • Family caregiver experience — quality measures collected by Medicare, including the following:
    • Communicating with family
    • Getting timely help
    • Treating patient with respect
    • Providing emotional and spiritual support
    • Training family to care for patient
    • Help for pain and symptoms
    • Overall rating of hospice
    • Would recommend

Next to each parameter is a percentage, which is based on results from a national survey that asked family members about their experience with the hospice. To the right of that result is the national average score. 

• Quality of care — this includes two measures shown as percentages:
  • Percentage of patients getting at least one visit from a registered nurse, physician, nurse practitioner, or physician assistant in the last three days of life
  • Patients who were assessed on all 7 HIS quality measures at the beginning of hospice care to meet the HIS Comprehensive Assessment Measure requirements:
    • Preferences for hospitalization and/or resuscitation
    • A discussion of values and beliefs
    • Initial pain assessment
    • Timely additional pain assessments if pain is identified as a problem
    • Assessment for shortness of breath on admission
    • Timely treatment for shortness of breath
    • Treatment for constipation in patients taking opioids for pain

Using the tool can be a bit time-consuming and tedious. However, it can provide you with a very helpful window into the hospice providers in your area and the type and quality of care they provide. 

Sources

“CAHPS® Hospice Survey”. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/quality/hospice/cahpsr-hospice-survey 

“Medicare Care Compare”. Medicare.gov. https://www.medicare.gov/care-compare/