Home Health & Hospice Week

You’ve got one less face-to-face headache to deal with — for the moment.

Then: In a Dec. 8 message to providers, HHH MAC CGS said “For home health claims reviewed on or after January 1, 2015, CGS will begin reviewing the face-to-face (FTF) encounter documentation for all home health episodes, including the initial (Start of Care) and subsequent episodes for appropriateness. Previously, CGS only reviewed the FTF documentation when reviewing initial (Start of Care) claims. However, because the FTF documentation is a requirement for Medicare payment, all additional development requests (ADRs) for home health claims must include the FTF documentation.”

Now: “Plans for this future process change have been suspended as of December 11, 2014, pending further clarification,” CGS says in a new message to providers.