(1) No later than December 31, 2007, the Department of Elderly Affairs, in conjunction with the Agency for Health Care Administration, shall develop outcome measures to determine the quality and effectiveness of hospice care for hospices licensed in the state. At a minimum, these outcome measures shall include a requirement that 50 percent of patients who report severe pain on a 0-to-10 scale must report a reduction to 5 or less by the end of the 4th day of care on the hospice program.
(2) For hospices licensed in the state, the Department of Elderly Affairs, in conjunction with the Agency for Health Care Administration, shall:(a) Consider and adopt national initiatives, such as those developed by the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, to set benchmarks for measuring the quality of hospice care provided in the state.
(b) Develop an annual report that analyzes and evaluates the information collected under this act and any other data collection or reporting provisions of law.
