Home Health & Hospice Week

CMS is proposing to cut through the confusion over beneficiary notices by eliminating the Home Health Advance Beneficiary Notice and replacing it with the Advance Beneficiary Notice that other providers use to notify Medicare beneficiaries of non-coverage. The NAHC is applauding the proposed changes.

"In its comments, NAHC applauded [CMS] for taking steps to clarify and simplify the process for informing Medicare beneficiaries of reductions in service by proposing the use of two separate forms," the NAHC said in a Feb. 12 announcement. In addition to replacing the HHABN with the ABN, CMS is proposing a new form, the Home Health Change in Care Notice, which would notify beneficiaries of reductions in service for "other reasons."

CMS is waiting for approval of the forms by the Office of Management and Budget and will post a notification for HHAs on its website at www.cms.gov/bni.