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© Copyright 1998-2003 Health Grades, Inc. All Rights Reserved. May not be reprinted or reproduced without permission from
Health Grades, Inc.
Health Grades, Inc
Home Health Agencies Grading Methodology White Paper
Introduction
To help consumers evaluate and compare home health agency (HHA) compliance with standards
of patient care, HealthGrades analyzed HHA licensing survey and complaint survey data. These
data were provided by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), formerly Health
Care Financing Administration, of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Licensing survey data came from CMS' Online Survey Certification and Reporting (OSCAR)
database. Complaint data came from CMS' HHA Complaint database.
Data Analysis
To analyze the integrity of OSCAR and HHA Complaint data used in the analysis, HealthGrades
performed a number of internal checks. Home health agencies whose most recent licensing
survey date was older than 51 months from the day HealthGrades receives the data were not
included in the analysis. Only HHAs that were active in the Medicare program at the time data
were obtained by HealthGrades were analyzed. HHAs with only one licensing survey were not
included in the analysis. Licensing surveys older than 10 years from the day HealthGrades
receives the data were not included in the analysis.
HealthGrades analyzed each HHA in the following areas:
·
Complaint surveys
·
Complaint surveys within the last four years that resulted in a citation (deficiency)
·
Complaint surveys that resulted in a citation and were dated within six months of each
other
·
Condition level deficiencies (very serious deficiencies that may give cause for penalties or
de-certification by Medicare) from licensing surveys
·
Number of condition level deficiencies on recent survey
·
Number of condition level deficiencies on prior survey
·
Number of condition level deficiencies on third survey
·
Number of condition level deficiencies on fourth survey
·
Standard level deficiencies (non-serious deficiencies that require a plan for correction) from
licensing surveys
