Home Health & Hospice Week
MAC Gives Thumbs Down To House Call F2F
Have you thought of contracting with a physician to make house calls to fulfill face-to-face requirements? Better think again, one HHH Medi-care Administrative Contractor says.
"Can a contract physician that does home visits do the face-to-face visit and notify the certifying physician of his/her findings?" a home health agency asked in NHIC’s April 25 Ask the Contrac-tor Teleconference (ACT).
"No, that would not be allowed," NHIC responds. "If the patient was recently hospitalized or had a stay in a skilled nursing facility (SNF), an encounter with a physician that occurred in one of those institutions can be used as a face-to-face encounter," the MAC explains in a question-and-answer set from the ACT posted on its website. "This is the only instance where a physician other than the certifying physician can notify the certifying physician of the findings of a face-to-face encounter," it says.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Reimbursement:
HHAs Hit With Surprise Outlier Recoupments
Questions about outlier calculation process abound. Abuse of outliers for home health agencies seems [...] - Hospice:
New Coding Restrictions Will Hit Many Hospices Hard
Tip: Look to your secondary diagnoses for the ‘real’ principal code. CMS says [...] - Diagnosis Coding:
Expert: Guidance Doesn't Square With Coding Conventions
Authorities have been sounding the horn about using non-specific diagnoses improperly lately. But this is [...] - Payment:
Hospices Fear Financial Implications Under Expanded Diagnosis Code Reporting
CMS: ‘Hospices are required to provide virtually all the care that is needed ... at [...] - Survey & Certification:
OIG Wants More HHA Surveys
Surveyors rarely terminate providers, investigators found. The reason for alternative sanctions that take [...] - Managed Care:
Medicare Advantage Taking A 2 Percent Bite? Bite Back
Unless your contracts specifically allow your MAO to pass on its 2 percent cuts to [...] - Emergency Preparedness:
Home Care Community Mobilizes After Oklahoma Tornadoes
How would your organization handle loss of communication, power and water? Home care [...] - Industry Note:
Get Ready For More State Scrutiny Of Your Data
OIG gives thumbs up to data mining. You should be paying attention to [...] - Industry Note:
Senate Confirms Official CMS Administrator
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has its first permanent Administrator in seven years. [...] - Industry Note:
MAC Gives Thumbs Down To House Call F2F
Have you thought of contracting with a physician to make house calls to fulfill face-to-face [...] - Industry Note:
State Beefs Up Background Checks For Workers
Ohio workers furnishing direct care for the elderly will have to pass beefed up background [...] - Industry Note:
Strike Force Focuses On Patient Recruiter Kickbacks
More details are emerging about the charges against home care providers in Medicare’s latest nationwide [...]
