Home Health & Hospice Week

If A1400, the Hospice Item Set question on payors, is giving you fits, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has some help for you.

CMS has posted the A1400 guidance it shared earlier with an industry trade group (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXVI, No. 22). The tip sheet contains many clarifications that go beyond the HIS Manual.

For example: One head scratcher for hospices has been when they should mark “Response Option B. Medicare (managed care/Part C/Medicare Advantage),” since beneficiaries must disenroll from MA plans when they elect hospice. “If the patient was a Medicare Advantage patient prior to enrolling in hospice, select ‘B. Medicare (managed care/Part C/Medicare Advantage)’ even though Medicare Advantage may not reimburse the hospice directly for any services,” CMS instructs in the new guidance.

Don’t overlook: “If the patient was Part C/Medicare Advantage prior to enrolling in hospice, select the response options for BOTH part C and traditional fee-for-service, as applicable,” CMS adds.

See the guidance sheet at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Downloads/CMS-Hospice-QRP-Master-Guidance-Item-A1400-June-2017-1.pdf. Access the HIS Manual at www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Hospice-Item-Set-HIS.html.