Home Health & Hospice Week
Clock Restarts On Doc Fix -- And Possible Home Care Cuts
Two-month delay to 27% physician cut hammered out. After political theatrics from both sides of the aisle, members of Congress passed legislation averting the steep cut to Medicare physician payments until March 1. The agreement signed into law Dec. 23 was a Christmas present to home health agencies, who had worried that their payment rates may be at risk when legislators went looking for funding for the so-called "doc fix" that held off the 27 percent cut to physician pay rates. A beneficiary copayment for home health episodes seemed a popular money-raising provision in particular. Now when members of the House return on Jan. 17 and Senators reconvene on Jan. 23, they will return to hammering out a longer-term doc fix by the Feb. 29 deadline. House Republicans have pledged to pass a two-year fix, which will require even more funding likely to come from other providers' budgets.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Lawsuits:
Whistleblower Lawsuit Signals Hospice Enforcement Ramp-Up
Get ready to defend your hospice claims if you treat long-stay patients. If you had [...] - Prospective Payment System:
New HTN Payment Rules May Not Mean New Coding
A big shift in coding could prove CMS right that agencies were gaming. Now that [...] - Diagnosis Coding:
Avoid This Upcoding Trap With HTN Codes
You can capture case mix points with HTN codes in these circumstances. While the 401.1 [...] - HIPAA:
Pull Your HIPAA Act Together With These Pointers
It's time to move HIPAA off the back burner. With new HIPAA audits on the [...] - Industry Note:
Clock Restarts On Doc Fix -- And Possible Home Care Cuts
Two-month delay to 27% physician cut hammered out. After political theatrics from both sides of [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
CMS To Take Action On More Identified Fraud Vulnerabilities, OIG Report Indicates
HHA outliers one of the few fraud risks CMS did address from 2009. The Centers [...] - Industry Note:
MAC Resolves 5010 Billing Glitc
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services wants home health agencies and hospices that have [...] - Industry Note:
Prepay Demos For Mobility Devices, RACs Delayed
Sometimes common sense does seem to prevail at the policy-making level. CMS has agreed to [...] - Industry Note:
Demo For Doc, NP Visits At Home Gets Green Light
Medicare beneficiaries will receive more care at home under a new demonstration, but the care [...] - Industry Note:
Know Which Revalidation Letter To Disregard
If you're still working your way through a backlog of mail you received over the [...] - Industry Note:
HHA, Hospice Reps Named To CMS Innovations Initiative
CMS will receive input from home care providers for its Innovations Center initiatives, which aim [...] - Industry Note:
Keep Patients' PHI Out Of E-Mails To MACs
Don't risk HIPAA violations when you're trying to get help with your Medicare claims. You [...] - Industry Note:
3 HHA Operators Plead Guilty To Kickbacks, Fraud
Three Miami HHA operators charged with Medicare fraud last year have pled guilty. Roberto and [...] - Industry Note:
State Regs Burden Inpatient Hospice Facilities
In addition to handing over its patients to another HHA, the Visiting Nurse & Hospice [...]
