Home Health & Hospice Week
Get Clues To Hospice SFP Future
If you’re wondering what the hospice Special Focus Program might look like when it’s officially proposed, you can check out the latest update to the similar Special Focus Facilities program for nursing homes. Reminder: After convening a Technical Expert Panel, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services plans to propose SFP particulars in the 2024 rulemaking cycle next year (see HHHW, Vol. XXXI, No. 27). In its new SFF update, CMS “is increasing scrutiny and oversight over the country’s poorest-performing nursing facilities in an effort to immediately improve the care they deliver,” the agency says in a release. “CMS will toughen requirements for completion of the program and increase enforcement actions for facilities that fail to demonstrate improvement. CMS is also calling on states to consider a facility’s staffing level in determining which facilities enter the SFF Program,” the agency says. “Let us be clear: we are cracking down on enforcement of our nation’s poorest-performing nursing homes,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra says in the release. “We are increasing scrutiny and taking aggressive action to ensure everyone living in nursing homes gets the high-quality care they deserve. We are demanding better, because our seniors deserve better,” Becerra pledges. “People in this country’s nursing homes deserve access to safe and high-quality care, and facilities that aren’t providing that level of service need to improve their performance or face the consequences,” CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks- LaSure adds in the release. “Poor-performing nursing homes have the opportunity to improve, but if they fail to do so, the changes we are making to CMS’ Special Focus Facilities Program will hold these facilities accountable for the health and safety of their residents,” Brooks-LaSure says. “More severe, escalating enforcement remedies” and termination for Immediate Jeopardy citations are some of the revisions, CMS says. Read about the revisions at www.cms. gov/files/document/qso-23-01-nh.pdf.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Patient-Driven Groupings Model:
CMS Shakes Off Most Provider Comments In Final HH Rule — But Does Offer Some Relief
Slim 0.7% pay increase isn’t enough, industry reps insist. Apparently, hundreds of home health agencies [...] - Reimbursement:
5% Wage Index Cap Is Good, But Wholesale Reform Would Be Better
CMS leaves many wage index inequities in place. Home health agencies will see some help [...] - Regulations:
Final Rule Brings Changes To FDL, Diagnosis Codes, LUPA Thresholds, Case Mix
LUPA threshold decreases far outweigh increases for next year. While halving the massive productivity payment [...] - Value-Based Purchasing:
It’s Official: VBP Baseline Year Switches To 2022
You can expect your IPR baseline year data halfway through the first performance year — [...] - OASIS:
HHAs Get A Little Breathing Room On All-Payer OASIS
Your plummeting outcomes will be for the greater good, CMS maintains. Home health providers hoping [...] - Telehealth:
Get Ready For 3 New Telehealth G Codes
Stay tuned for technical details as Jan. 1 implementation date nears. “Why do it the [...] - Hospice:
Don’t Expect Lighter MAC Medical Review Load To Last Forever
One contractor reduces audit scope to provide relief. You may not feel like medical reviewers [...] - COVID-19:
Medicare Eases Up On Staff Vaccination Survey Procedures
Dings will be standard-level unless violations are ‘egregious.’ The COVID-19 public health emergency may still [...] - Industry Note:
Celebrate Home Health & Hospice Month
Don't overlook free resources. Don’t let this month go by without a chance to salute [...] - Industry Note:
Care Compare Revamp Is Live
Check out the latest changes to Care Compare’s hospice section. “An off-cycle October 2022 Refresh [...] - Industry Note:
Tap Latest VBP Education
If you missed Medicare’s Oct. 11 Home Health Value-Based Purchasing educational session, “Navigating Performance Feedback [...] - Industry Note:
Get Clues To Hospice SFP Future
If you’re wondering what the hospice Special Focus Program might look like when it’s officially [...] - Industry Note:
HHA Manager Draws 12-Year Prison Stretch While Owner Gets 2.5
Nearly four years after pleading guilty to home health fraud, a Houston home health agency [...]
