Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't wait for RAs to check your docs. Use the next three months wisely to make sure your Medicare payments will remain intact come January. The problem: Starting Oct. 4, informational edits checking for ordering/referring physicians' PECOS enrollment status will begin. Starting Jan. 3, edits will begin rejecting claims that don't have information for PECOS-enrolled ordering physicians. "It's critical that agencies monitor this matter now, while there is no penalty to cash flow," stresses consultant M. Aaron Little with BKD in Springfield, Mo. Taking action on the issue now will "hopefully minimize [payment] delays in the new year," Little says. The solution: Smart home health agencies will take these key steps to head off PECOS editrelated cash flow problems in January: 1. Check all your physicians. Don't wait on edit results to head off claims errors. If you haven't already done so, check all your ordering physicians' PECOS enrollment status, [...]