Home Health & Hospice Week

Verbal consent doesn't cut it. Confusion over how hospice election dates work could cost your agency thousands of dollars per patient, so make sure you know the election statement rules. In its most recent Ask The Contractor tele-conference (ACT), hospices asked regional home health intermediary Palmetto GBA about two situations regarding election dates. Scenario #1: A hospice admits a patient on March 1 after securing verbal authorization from the patient's son, who has the patient's power of attorney. The hospice sends the son the election statement and the son signs it on March 20. The hospice receives the statement on March 30. Scenario #2: A hospice is furnishing services to a patient whose primary payor is other than Medicare. After the admission date, the Social Security Administration retroactively instates the patient's Medicare entitlement. In both of these situations, the hospices asked Palmetto when they could bill Medicare for their services. [...]