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To: HHA Providers, CMS Staff
Expanded HHVBP Model: Preliminary October 2025 Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) are Available in iQIES
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Preliminary October 2025 Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) are Available in iQIES
The Preliminary October 2025 IPRs for the expanded HHVBP Model have been published in the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES).
The quarterly IPRs provide home health agencies (HHAs) with the cohort assignment, performance year measure data for the 12 most recent months, and the interim Total Performance Score (TPS). Using the IPRs, an HHA can assess and track their performance relative to peers in their respective cohort throughout the expanded Model performance year. Note that the CY 2025 measure set is now in effect, which includes the following measures:
OASIS-based Measures
- Discharge Function (DC Function)
- Improvement in Dyspnea (Dyspnea)
- Improvement in Management of Oral Medications (Oral Medications)
Claims-based Measures
- Discharge to Community – Post Acute Care (DTC-PAC)
- Potentially Preventable Hospitalizations – Post Acute Care (PPH)
HHCAHPS Survey-based Measures
- Care of Patients (Professional Care)
- Communications between Providers and Patients (Communication)
- Specific Care Issues (Team Discussion)
- Overall rating of home health care (Overall Rating)
- Willingness to recommend the agency (Willing to Recommend)
An HHA receives an October 2025 IPR if the HHA:
- Was Medicare certified prior to January 1, 2024, and
- Meets the minimum threshold of data for at least one (1) quality measure in the quarterly reporting period for the performance year shown in Exhibit 1.
Exhibit 1: October 2025 IPR quality measure performance scores time periods for each measure category
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Measure Category
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Time Period
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Minimum Data Threshold
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OASIS-based
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Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2025
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20 home health quality episodes
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Claims-based
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DTC-PAC: Apr 1, 2023 – Mar 31, 2025
PPH: Apr 1, 2024 – Mar 31, 2025
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20 home health stays
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HHCAHPS Survey-based*
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Apr 1, 2024 – Mar 31, 2025
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40 completed surveys
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*Not included in the TPS calculation for HHAs in the smaller-volume cohort.
Note: IPRs are only available to HHAs through iQIES and are located in the “HHA Provider Preview Reports” folder. IPRs are not available to the public.
For additional details on cohort assignment in the expanded Model, please navigate to Section 2 in the Expanded HHVBP Model Guide, available on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage, under “FAQs & Model Guide.”
Important note: CMS recalculated improvement thresholds based on CY 2024 for the OASIS-based Discharge Function (DC Function) measure reported on the “CY 2025 Baseline” tab in the July 2025 IPRs. HHAs that received a July 2025 IPR, please go through the following steps to identify if you were impacted by this correction:
- Open your HHA’s July 2025 IPR and navigate to the “CY 2025 Baseline” tab.
- If you did not receive a July 2025 IPR and/or October 2025 IPR, no further action is required on your part.
- Locate the column labeled “Baseline Year Data Period [b].
- If you see “12-31-2024” in this column for the OASIS-based DC Function measure, the corresponding improvement threshold (listed in the adjacent column labeled “Your HHA’s Improvement Threshold”) was recalculated. Your HHA’s October 2025 IPR shows the correct CY 2024 improvement threshold for this measure.
- If you see “12-31-2023” in this column for the OASIS-based DC Function measure, no corrections were made to your improvement threshold as the CY 2023 measure data were not impacted.
For any questions related to this correction of the CY 2024 improvement thresholds for the OASIS-based DC Function measure, please contact the HHVBP Model Help Desk at HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov.
As outlined in the CY 2026 Home Health (HH) Prospective Payment System (PPS) Final Rule, there are changes to the expanded HHVBP Model measure set starting with CY 2026 (referred to as the “CY 2026 measure set”). The October 2026 IPRs will be the first IPRs to generate improvement, achievement, and care points based on the CY 2026 measure set. To help HHAs get ready for this change, CMS has started providing a preview of HHAs’ performance on the CY 2026 measure set. Specifically, starting with the October 2025 IPRs, achievement thresholds (AT) and benchmarks (BM) (see “CY 2026 AT and BM” tab) and HHA’s improvement thresholds for the CY 2026 measure set are available to HHAs in each IPR.
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Accessing IPRs
IPRs are available via iQIES in the “HHA Provider Preview Reports” folder, by the CMS Certification number (CCN) assigned to the HHA. If your organization has more than one (1) CCN, then a report will be available for each CCN. Only iQIES users authorized to view an HHA’s reports can access expanded HHVBP Model reports. For assistance with downloading your HHA’s IPR, please contact the iQIES Service Center at 1-800-339-9313, Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM-8:00 PM ET, or by email (iqies@cms.hhs.gov). To create a ticket online or track an existing ticket, please go to CCSQ Support Central.
- Log into iQIES at https://iqies.cms.gov/.
- Select the My Reports option from the Reports menu.
- From the My Reports page, select the HHA Provider Preview Reports folder. The folders and reports on the My Reports page are listed in alphabetical order. Thus, users may need to utilize the “page forward” functionality at the bottom of the webpage to advance to the page where the HHA Provider Preview Reports folder is located. Alternatively, users may change the default number of rows that display on the webpage from 10 to a larger number to view the larger list of folders. Note: Files in the HHA Provider Preview Reports folder are listed in descending order (i.e., in the order of the newest reports to the oldest).
- Select the HHVBP report file, and the contents of the file will display.
Instructions on how to access the IPRs are also available on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage, under “Model Reports.”
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Submitting an IPR Recalculation Request
There are two (2) versions of the quarterly IPRs: a Preliminary IPR and a Final IPR. The Preliminary IPR provides an HHA with an opportunity to submit a recalculation request for applicable measures and interim performance scores if the agency believes there is evidence of a discrepancy in the calculation. Please note, the recalculation request does not apply to errors in data submission since submission requirements for the expanded Model align with current Code of Federal Regulations (CFRs).
To dispute the calculation of the performance scores in the Preliminary IPR, an HHA must submit a recalculation request within 15 calendar days after publication of the Preliminary IPR. For the October 2025 IPR, HHAs must submit a recalculation request by December 16, 2025. The Final IPR will reflect any changes resulting from any approved recalculation request.
HHAs may submit requests for recalculation by emailing hhvbp_recalculation_requests@abtglobal.com. Recalculation requests must contain the following information, as cited in the CY 2022 HH PPS final rule (p. 62331) and CFR §484.375:
- The provider’s name, address associated with the services delivered, and CCN.
- The basis for requesting recalculation to include the specific data that the HHA believes is inaccurate or the calculation the HHA believes is incorrect.
- Contact information for a person at the HHA with whom CMS or its agent can communicate about this request, including name, email address, telephone number, and mailing address (must include physical address, not just a post office box).
- A copy of any supporting documentation, not containing PHI or PII, the HHA wishes to submit in electronic form.
Note: When submitting recalculation and reconsideration requests:
- CMS asks HHAs to only include one CCN per request.
- If you are submitting a recalculation request due to a suspected discrepancy between measure values reported in your IPR and measure values calculated internally or by your HHA's vendor, please consider providing a copy of the internal/vendor report used to generate the internal data to assist CMS with investigating your HHA's request.
- If possible, confirm whether 1) your internal data are risk-adjusted and 2) the data source used to generate your internal measure values (e.g., OASIS data, claims data).
- Please do not include any PHI/PII.
These instructions are also available on the Expanded HHVBP Model webpage, under “Model Reports.”
Contact Us
Please do not reply to this email – this is an unmonitored inbox. If you require assistance, use the following options:
- For program questions about the expanded HHVBP Model, contact the HHVBP Model Help Desk at HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov.
- For support with registration for the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES), please contact our QIES/iQIES Service Center by phone at (800) 339-9313 or by email at iqies@cms.hhs.gov. You may also refer to the iQIES Onboarding Guide posted to QTSO for registration support: https://qtso.cms.gov/software/iqies/reference-manuals.
- To receive email updates about the expanded Model, please subscribe to the Expanded HHVBP Model listserv. Enter your email address in the contact form, then select “Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Expanded Model” from the Innovations list.
- Please contact the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP) Help Desk at homehealthqualityquestions@cms.hhs.gov for questions about the following: Home Health Quality, including Care Compare (excluding HHCAHPS), OASIS coding and OASIS documentation, quality reporting requirements & deadlines, data reported in quality reports, measure calculations, Quality of Patient Care Star Rating (excluding suppression requests), public reporting, risk adjustment, and Quality Assessment Only (QAO)/Pay for Reporting (P4P).
- Please contact the Home Health CAHPS Help Desk at hhcahps@rti.org for questions related to the HHCAHPS Survey or Patient Survey Star Ratings.
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Important Links:
Expanded HHVBP Model webpage | Expanded HHVBP Model YouTube playlist
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