Expert: In preparation for debut of HOPE tool Wednesday, hospices should provide training, adhere to timelines

Expert: In preparation for debut of HOPE tool Wednesday, hospices should provide training, adhere to timelines 
McKnights Home Care; by Adam Healy; 9/28/25 
With the Hospice Outcomes and Patient Evaluation (HOPE) tool scheduled to roll out Wednesday, hospice providers need to get up to speed, ... Katy Barnett, director of home care and hospice operations and policy at LeadingAge, told McKnight’s Home Care Daily Pulse ... "To be successful with the new tool, providers need to adhere to a few best practices. ... Providers should have a designated staff member making sure that their assessments are uploaded within 30 days of completion and that they are accepted by the iQIES system,” she said. “In the first quarter of implementation, meeting the 90% threshold for timely reporting of data is key.” Barnett added, “Providers need to make sure they’re meeting the two-day timeline for symptom follow-up visits and that they’re tracking completion either within their EMR or externally. This is really important since the visits will count towards publicly reported quality measures starting in January.”
Guest Editor's Note, from Judi Lund-Person: For patients who are already on service on October 1, hospices will only use the HOPE discharge process and will not use the HUV or SFV visits.  Have you registered for iQIES yet? There is still time….. although every hospice will want to pay close attention to the 90% compliance threshold – if it is not met, there could be a 4% payment reduction for the following year. Good luck with your final preparations!