A Xenia hospice is one of nine chosen nationally to test the best way to assess the quality of hospice care.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is coordinating the pilot project.

Under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, hospices will be required to gather and report data on how well they manage patient symptoms, including pain, and other measures, including psycho-social and spiritual support for patients and their families.

The data will be publicly available.

The project focuses on quality measures endorsed by the National Quality Forum, and aims to assess how burdensome data collection is, as well as how feasible the process is, said Alexis Kirk, a public health analyst with RTI International, an independent, non-profit organization contracted by CMS to oversee the project.

“We’re helping design what the quality reporting in hospice will look like,” said Tara Brodbeck, a registered nurse and the founder and president and CEO of Hospice of the Miami Valley, which was established in 2008.

Neither Kirk nor Brodbeck could disclose how many patients or families will be covered by the project. Brodbeck said her hospice serves “well over” 100 patients a day in the Miami Valley.

The data gathered will help patients and families choose the best hospice program for their needs, she said.

“We’re asking questions about the kinds of things patients and families would want to know about how well hospices perform,” Brodbeck said. “It’s important to know the quality of care, and truly at the bedside is where quality starts and ends.”

The pilot project ends in September.

Hospice is a concept of care focusing on providing physical, emotional and spiritual comfort to patients whose illness no longer responds to cure-oriented treatments.

“The hallmark of hospice is helping people cope with their illness and helping them stay home so they can stay as active and comfortable as they can,” Brodbeck said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or peggy.o’farrell@ coxinc.com.