Home Health & Hospice Week
Manual Changes, Education Call Shed Light On Change In Improvement Standard
If you’re trying to get a handle on what the Jimmo settlement agreement means for your home health agency, you’ve got some more tools to help you figure it out.
Reminder: Last January, the U.S. District Court for the District of Vermont gave a final a-pproval on a settlement with the Department of Health and Human Services in the class-action lawsuit Jimmo v. Sebelius. Under the settlement, HHS agreed to clarify that Medicare covers home health, therapy services and SNFs regardless of whether the beneficiary’s condition is expected to improve — known as the "improvement standard," (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXII, No. 6).
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finally has issued Medicare manual up-dates incorporating the Jimmo clarifications. And CMS held an MLN Connects National Provider Call on the topic right before Christmas. An explanation of the manual updates is in a MLN Matters article at www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Medicare-Learning-Network-MLN/MLNMattersArticles/Downloads/MM8458.pdf and the call transcript is at www.cms.gov/Outreach-and-Education/Outreach/NPC/Downloads/JIMMO-12-19-13-Edited-Transcript.pdf.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Prospective Payment System:
Are You Losing Reimbursement On These Codes Nixed From PPS Case Mix?
Focus on accurate diagnosis coding and OASIS scoring now that 170 codes are out of [...] - Diagnosis Coding:
Top 10 Diagnosis Codes Deleted From PPS Case Mix
Examine your claims to make sure you’re using these codes correctly. In Table 3 of [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
Physician Staff Targeted In Home Care Investigations
Miami dominates the home care fraud market. While you were busy delivering gifts and covering [...] - Education:
Get Training On PECOS Edits, PPS Billing Changes
Also, check out Eli audioconferences on OASIS-C1, the OIG’s plans for hospices, and hospice diagnosis [...] - Regulations:
New Emergency Preparedness Requirement On Deck
Will your current plan meet the newly proposed regulatory mandate? You’ve probably already got an [...] - Industry Note:
Medicare Claims Processing System Glitches Cleared Up In The New Year
But beware of one home health agency overpayment snafu that continues. A number of claims [...] - Industry Note:
Manual Changes, Education Call Shed Light On Change In Improvement Standard
If you’re trying to get a handle on what the Jimmo settlement agreement means for [...] - Industry Note:
ALJ Delays Stretch Into Years
The wheels of justice grind slowly — and now will be even slower when it [...] - Industry Note:
Sequestration Cuts Expected To Last For Years
Home care providers escaped being a funding source for a temporary ‘doc fix’ bill Pres-ident [...] - Industry Note:
CMPs And Exclusions Await Medicare Providers That Are Repeat Offenders
Medicare is finally implementing procedures to go after providers that blatantly engage in fraud and [...] - Industry Note:
Hospices Across The Nation Dispute Post Allegations Of Gaming The Medicare Benefit
Hospices aren’t taking the allegations made against the industry by the Washington Post lying down. [...] - Industry Note:
Is Scrutiny Of Therapy In Skilled Nursing Facilities A Preview For Home Care?
Home care providers aren’t the only ones getting major scrutiny for therapy. The De-partment of [...] - Industry Note:
IRS Mileage Rate Decreases Slightly This Year
Don’t forget that the IRS mileage rate decreased to 56 cents per mile as of [...]
