Home Health & Hospice Week

A recent question-and-answer session with Palmetto GBA revealed helpful advice from a panel of Medicare experts. Facilitators Tammy Tucci, Mary Lynn Stillinger, Sharon Briggman, Charlene Craven and Marilyn Jeske answered audience questions at the Jurisdiction 11 Home Health and Hospice Ask-the-Contractor Teleconference (ACT). Here are two of the questions that came up. Question: The hospice admitted a dual-diagnosis patient in a local skilled nursing facility, although the patient is still receiving care for a diagnosis not related to the hospice diagnosis. Would the SNF or the hospice bill Medicare for the room-and-board charges? Answer: "The hospice and SNF should first share their plans of care (POC). If the hospice and the SNF agree that their diagnoses are different and the SNF treatment is unrelated to the hospice care, the SNF would bill for the room and board on their nonrelated claim. The SNF claim would have a condition code 07 [...]