Hospice Care of Middletown is the only hospice in SW Ohio to receive a 5 Star Rating, recognizing the exceptional care provided to patients and caregivers

Recently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) began “grading” hospices nationwide on a star rating system. One star is the lowest score and 5 stars is the highest. This step was initiated for several reasons:

·         Provide information to consumers of health care to select hospice care.

·         Support hospices with internal quality improvement efforts.

·         Provide CMS with information for monitoring the care provided by hospices.

CMS requires that hospices send surveys (called the Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems or CAHPS)  to families or informal caregivers following a patient’s death.  The survey contains 47 questions with questions related to the care their loved one received during life’s final stages and is administered to eligible decedents/caregivers from all payer sources.  Since public reporting on every single one of the 47 questions would be too cumbersome for most, the questions are grouped into 8 related categories. The Star ratings are based on these survey results.

To find more information on area hospices visit medicare.gov/hospicecompare. The Hospice Compare website displays results of the CAHPS Hospice Survey under “Family Experience of Care.”

Hospice Care of Middletown scores above all area hospices on these caregiver surveys in all 8 categories published by Care Compare. The 5 Star rating for Hospice Care of Middletown is a great honor to our staff. It is also humbling to be privileged to do this important work and to be recognized for it.