Home Health & Hospice Week

Transfer coding changes aren't the only differences you'll see thanks to the swing from the old "source of admission" codes to the new "point of origin" codes.

For claims with a "From" date of July 1 or later, home health agencies must use condition code 47 when patients transfer from another HHA (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 24, p. 190). Using the code will trigger a partial episode payment (PEP) adjustment.

Agencies also must use point of origin code "1" on all claims in Form Locator 15 on the UB-04 form, explains the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. That's because the new codes describe where the patients are, not where the patients' referrals came from. The code "for all home health patients will always be '1 - Non-Health Care Facility Point of Origin' because home health patients will always be in their homes at the time of arrival of home health care providers," NAHC explains.