Home Health & Hospice Week
Fewer HHAs To Receive Bonuses From P4P Demo's 2nd Year
Half of the participating regions failed to generate program savings. All the hard work participating agencies put into the pay for performance demonstration project isn't necessarily netting them any financial benefit. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has calculated the Medicare program savings for the second year of the home health agency pay for performance demonstration project, and only two of the four demo regions saw savings, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice. That means agencies from the two regions whose intervention group did not save Medicare money overall will not receive bonuses. In 2009, the South and West regions achieved $14.95 million in savings, NAHC reports. The Northeast and Midwest regions did not see savings. For the demo, CMS calculated savings by comparing total Medicare spending for the intervention group's patients versus a control group. In comparison: In the first year of the demo in 2008, three of the four regions saw $15.4 million in savings and shared in the bonuses (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 16, p. 124). Only the Midwest region, comprised of Illinois agencies, did not generate savings under the program. Of the 270 agencies in the savings-generating regions, 123 will receive incentive payments based on their performance. CMS awards both topperformer and top-improver bonuses. In year one of the demo, 166 agencies shared in the bonus payments, NAHC notes in its member newsletter. CMS and contractor officials did not respond to inquiries for this story.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Face-To-Face:
PPS Rule To Ease F2F Burden, But Major Challenges Remain
Don't expect substantial changes to the face-toface requirement from CMS. One face-to-face hurdle may disappear [...] - Medicaid:
Medicaid F2F Requirement To Hit Next
If your state hasn't adopted a Medicaid face-toface requirement yet, it will soon. Just when [...] - Diagnosis Coding:
Expect Scores Of New Case Mix Codes In 2012
Watch for PPS final rule to pin down final coding changes. If you thought the [...] - Regulations:
Rule: Don't Forget That Medicare, Medicaid Are Very Different
For instance, homebound requirements are actually prohibited in Medicaid. In addition to the home health [...] - HIPAA:
Provider Pays $865,500 Fine For HIPAA-Violating Peek
You don't need celebrity patients to learn from this HIPAA mistake. If you knew Brad [...] - Industry Note:
Fewer HHAs To Receive Bonuses From P4P Demo's 2nd Year
Half of the participating regions failed to generate program savings. All the hard work participating [...] - Industry Note:
CMS Speeds Regulations For Bundling Medicare Payments.
Having your Medicare payments bundled into hospital reimbursement may happen sooner than you think. One [...] - Industry Note:
Try This Work-Around For Vaccination Billing Glitch
As flu season approaches, try this workaround for a glitch with the Medicare claims system's [...] - Industry Note:
RAC Adds One More Home Care Review Topic
One of the Recovery Audit Contractors has secured CMS approval of another home carerelated topic. [...] - Industry Note:
Don't Forget Compliance With ADA Standards
• False Claims Act lawsuits aren't the only employee-initiated legal actions you have to worryabout. [...] - Industry Note:
Tap These New MAC Tools For Hospice Billing Help
Looking for help with your hospice billing? HHH MAC NHIC has posted three new hospice-related [...] - Industry Note:
Study: Falls May Indicate Early Alzheimer's
If you have patients who seem mysteriously prone to falls, they may be in the [...] - Industry Note:
This Month MACs Offer 2nd Chance For 5010 Testing
Providers that missed the last 5010 testing day should put these dates down on their [...]
