CAHPS Insider: April 2025

Telehealth and Hospital-at-Home Benefits Extended

As part of a recently passed Continuing Resolution, Congress approved a funding package that includes an extension of Medicare coverage for telehealth and hospital-at-home services through September 30, 2025. These benefits were originally introduced as temporary measures during the COVID-19 public health emergency to help patients safely receive medical care from their homes. The extension will allow Medicare beneficiaries to maintain access to the flexible options that for treatment outside of traditional care settings.

Eligible CPT Codes

Two OAS CAHPS-eligible CPT codes were inadvertently noted on the list of excluded codes in the OAS CAHPS Protocols & Guidelines Manual, Version 9.0. Codes 93451 and 93452 indicate eligible procedures. Appendix P of the Protocols & Guidelines will be updated to reflect this correction. The complete Protocols & Guidelines Manual is available on the OAS CAHPS website under Survey Materials.

Preview Reports

Preview Reports with results from the HHCAHPS Survey from Q4 2023 – Q3 2024 (October 2023 – September 2024), including Star Ratings, are available under the For HHAs tab on the HHCAHPS website. You must be logged on to view your report. These data will be displayed on Care Compare in April 2025.

For additional information, please visit the Understanding the HHCAHPS Survey Preview Reports document on the HHCAHPS website.

Coordination Team Quarterly Review

The April 2025 HHCAHPS Coordination Team Quarterly Review (CTQR) newsletter has been published under the General Information tab on the HHCAHPS website. This quarter’s edition contains information and resources about the HHCAHPS Survey at the start of the new APU period, which began April 1st.

Please reach out to the HHCAHPS Survey Coordination Team at hhcahps@rti.org or 866-354-0985 if you have any questions.

Quarter 2, 2025 Updates

Changes to the CAHPS Hospice Survey and survey administration take effect with April 2025 decedents. This outreach begins in late June 2025.

Key changes including:

• • Adding a prenotification letter to caregivers
  • Incorporating cover letter wording changes
  • Implementing a revised, shorter CAHPS Hospice Survey containing a total of 38 questions, a decrease from the current survey’s 47 questions
  • Extending the data collection period from 42 to 49 days
  • A new dimension of Care Preferences comprised of two new survey items
  • The Getting Hospice Care Training dimension will be reduced to one item
  • A revised Hospice Team Communication dimension that removes one item and makes slight wording changes

NRC Health is prepared for the upcoming changes to ensure a seamless transition for our partners. Please reach out to your Customer Success Team with any questions.

Registration is Open

Registration for the performance year 2025 CAHPS for MIPS Survey is open now through June 30, 2025. Groups, virtual groups, and APMs who wish to participate in the survey must register before the deadline by logging in to the QPP website and clicking Start Registration on the landing page.

Note Medicare Shared Savings Program ACOs are not required to complete the registration process. All CAHPS for MIPS participants are required to authorize a survey vendor each year. Survey vendor authorization instructions will be provided at a later date.