Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Note:

Get Patient Status Codes Right Following HH Patient Deaths

Is your home health agency using the correct patient status code on claims when the patient dies?

"Some home health claims are being submitted with the incorrect patient status code (FL 17) of 40, 41 or 42 to report the patient’s death," HHH Medicare Administrative Contractor CGS says in its February newsletter for home care providers. "These codes are only appropriate on hospice claims."

Do this: "For home health claims, where the ‘TO’ date of the claim is the patient’s date of death, the home health agency should report a patient status code of ‘20’ (Expired)," CGS advises. "In addition, claims that report a patient status code of ‘20’ must also include an occurrence code ‘55’, along with the date of death."

Claims with an incorrect patient status code of 40, 41 or 42 will be returned to the provider (RTPd) for correction, CGS warns.

Resource: Additional information on pa-tient status codes and occurrence codes, is on the "Claim Page 01 – Entering a RAP or Claim" webpage at www.cgsmedicare.com/hhh/education/materials/HHE_Claim_Page_1.html.

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