Health Information Compliance Alert

Wondering which ICD-10 codes will be linked to LCDs? The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has pledged to get you that information by April.

“All ICD-10 local coverage decisions (LCDs) and associated ICD-10 articles will be published on the Medicare Coverage Database no later than April 10, 2014,” CMS says in MLN Matters article MM8348. “All other LCDs and articles (i.e., those LCDs and articles that do not contain ICD-10 information, or articles not attached to an LCD) will be published no later than Sept. 4, 2014.”

Since the ICD-10 implementation date is Oct. 1, 2014, this should give you almost six months to nail down the LCD transition. The MLN Matters article is at www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/MM8348.pdf.

Facebook Posts Lead To Nurse Suspension, Firing

Is getting fired for Facebook comments the least that can happen to employees? One nurse in Wales is finding that out.

In 2011, nurse Allison Marie Hopton was fired by Ty Hafan hospice over Facebook posts, reports the BBC. Hopton’s profile page stated that she was a nurse at Ty Hafan and comments on her wall were accessible to the public, although she thought they could only be viewed by her Facebook friends.

“Mrs. Hopton used a number of profanities on her Facebook page and made direct and indirect references to the hospice,” says the Nursing and Midwifery Council. She also posted a photo of a colleague sitting on a bedpan.

A coworker showed Hopton’s comments to her managers, the BBC says.

Hopton was fired in 2011, but the Council heard about the incident and recently suspended her from nursing for six months. “The panel was mindful of the vulnerable nature of those in her care and the sensitivity that would need to be applied to the families of patients at the hospice and the wider public,” the Council said, according to the BBC.

CMS Solicits Feedback on Hospice Quality Data

Information CMS soon will collect from hospices will help shape your hospice quality data reporting burden in the future.

CMS contractor Health Care Innovation Services wants to interview hospices over the phone about the implementation of the Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP), the agency says on the CMS Open Door Forum website.

“The interview is intended to help CMS better understand the strengths, weaknesses, priorities and burdens associated with the HQRP, how providers ensure the accuracy of submitted data, how the HQRP has impacted patient services and outcomes, and what CMS can do to improve the program and processes in the future,” CMS says.

See the notice online at www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/OpenDoorForums/ODF_hhhdme.html. Interested hospices can contact phanson@hcareis.com.