Home Health & Hospice Week

Don’t expect caregiver breakdown to qualify your hospice patient for the General In-patient (GIP) level of care. "The focus of general inpatient care is to provide an intensity of service in response to a crisis situation that cannot feasibly be provided in any other setting," HHH Medicare Administrative Contractor NHIC says in a new job aide on GIP. "A GIP level of service typically requires frequent monitoring of a patient, and/or medication or interventions by a physician or nurse."

"The loss of the individual’s support structure … should not be confused with the coverage requirements for medically reasonable and necessary care for pain and symptom management that cannot be managed in any other setting," NHIC explains. "Therefore, caregiver breakdown should not be billed as general inpatient care unless the coverage requirements for this level of care are met."

NHIC’s GIP job aid is at www.medicarenhic.com/providers/pubs/HospiceLevelsofCare.pdf.