Home Health & Hospice Week

Use these tips to create a self-audit strategy that works. The last thing your agency needs is for surveyors to swoop in and accuse you of fraud or abuse. Luckily, there is a simple way to keep your agency out of regulatory crosshairs: "Self audits provide ongoing monitoring to ensure your agency is compliant with the rules and regulations that impact the provision of home health services," explains Judy Adams, president and CEO of Adams Home Care Consulting in Chapel Hill, N.C. Reality: While agencies have always needed to tow the line when it comes to regulatory compliance, "the increasing focus of Recovery Audit Contractors and Medicare Administrative Contractorsmeans that agencies can't afford to discover errors, omissions, or incomplete documentation from the external reviews when it is too late to make the necessary changes," Adams notes. A self audit also helps agencies spot their "practices -- both good and bad -- and [...]