Home Health & Hospice Week
HHA Cuts For 2011 Will Drive Non-Profits Out Of Business, Trade Group Warns
Home health agency rates for 2011 will be cut by 4.89 percent compared to current rates, CMS says in a release. That will strip about $960 million from Medicare spending next year. "This impact accounts for ACA provisions, wage index and market basket updates, and case-mix coding adjustments," the agency says in the release. The 5.2 percent decrease cited in last week's Eli's Home Care Week refers to the reduction in the PPS episodic base payment rate only (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 39, p. 306). "Nonprofit home health providers simply cannot sustain this level of cuts and maintain the healthcare services that vulnerable patients rely upon from our member agencies," protests the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. "We are disappointed that CMS has regulated additional cuts through across-the-board, untargeted case mix adjustments, ignoring our recommendations to target tough measures more carefully."
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Hospice:
Hospice Face To Face Encounters Start In Just A Few Weeks
At least you can sometimes bill for the visits. Hospices soon will begin taking a [...] - Reimbursement:
Know When To Bill For FFE Visits -- And When Not To
Ambulance transport is hospices' responsibility, CMS clarifies. You can defray at least some of the [...] - Regulations:
Use These 9 Pointers To Smooth Your FFE Transition
Start identifying your December encounters now. You have a huge amount of work to do [...] - Patient Satisfaction:
If You Haven't Started CAHPS, Expect Pay Reductions In A Year
CMS sticks to its CAHPS deadline. Home health agencies hoping for a delay to the [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
What Do You Think? Is There Really More Health Care Fraud and Abuse These Days?
The answer may surprise you. A recent FBI bust of a health care fraud ring [...] - Industry Notes:
Bidding Program To Cut DME Payments By One-Third
Bidding set to expand next year, CMS confirms. Round one of competitive bidding is expected [...] - HHA Cuts For 2011 Will Drive Non-Profits Out Of Business, Trade Group Warns
Home health agency rates for 2011 will be cut by 4.89 percent compared to current [...] - Keep a wary eye on Congress.
Keep a wary eye on Congress. CMS will publish in the Nov. 29 Federal Register [...] - Hospice Cert Detail Need Changing? Better Get A Doc Order, RHHI Says
If you have to change your hospice patient's benefit period dates on the certification form [...] - Submit Your PECOS Certification Statement ASAP
Don't dawdle once you submit your PECOS application form, warns regional home health intermediary NHIC. [...] - Examine Claims RTPd With U538I Closely For Payment Glitch
You'd better give your claims returned with reason code U538I a close look. "The Common [...] - Gentiva Has Mixed Earnings In Wake Of Investigations
Gentiva Health Services Inc.'s revenues rose while profits dropped in the latest quarter. The Atlanta-based [...] - New Harris Poll Shows Americans Prefer Health Care At Home
Home care professionals know that patients overwhelmingly prefer home care, and now they have statistics [...]
