Similar actions have been taken with Medicare-certified nursing homes.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) on Thursday released the ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospice and home health agencies.
The information for more than 6,000 hospices and 11,000 home health agencies can be viewed on the CMS website. This data release follows similar measures for ownership transparency with the nation's nursing homes.
"It's plain and simple: families deserve transparency when making decisions about hospice and home health care for their loved ones," Xavier Becerra, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services secretary, said in a statement.
"President Biden has called for unprecedented action to increase transparency—and we are making more data publicly available than ever before,” Becerra said. “Shining a light on ownership data is good for families, good for researchers, and good for enforcement agencies. We will continue delivering on the President's directive to promote competition and protect consumers."
In making this information public, consumers, researchers, and enforcement agencies alike will be able to identify owners with a history of poor performance, examine how market consolidation impacts consumers with increased costs without necessarily improving quality of care, and evaluate the relationship between ownership and changes in healthcare costs and outcomes.
Since April 2022, CMS has made ownership data for all Medicare-certified hospitals and nursing homes available to the public. This data also includes information on mergers, acquisitions, consolidations, and other changes of ownership.
The hospice and home health data, which dates to 2016, released Thursday includes enrollment information, National Provider Identifier (NPI), CMS Certification Number (CCN), and details on whether the agency is owned by an individual or organization.
"Transitioning to hospice care is often an emotionally overwhelming time for many families," Chiquita Brooks-LaSure, CMS administrator, said in a statement. "Making this data public increases transparency, giving families the information needed to help them identify the best care for their loved one."
"Providing information is a hallmark of this administration's efforts to improve care because we understand that having good information allows people to make the best choices possible."
“It's plain and simple: families deserve transparency when making decisions about hospice and home health care for their loved ones.”
Xavier Becerra, Secretary, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Jasmyne Ray is the revenue cycle editor at HealthLeaders.