Home Health & Hospice Week

If PDGM snafus or missing MBIs don’t do in your billing in the New Year, lack of iQIES access might still do it.

“Act now,” HHH Medicare Administrative Contractor Palmetto GBA stresses in a message to providers. “Home Health Agencies (HHAs) need access to the upgraded Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) to submit [OASIS] assessment data beginning January 1. We will return claims that cannot be matched to assessments, delaying your Medicare payments.”

Do this: HHAs must “onboard to the Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) by establishing a Healthcare Quality Information System Access, Roles, and Profile System (HARP) account and selecting an iQIES role,” Palmetto elaborates in a website post.

HHAs must register in iQIES by Dec. 23 to avoid payment delays, CMS says.

Tip: “To access iQIES, you must identify the Provider Security Official (PSO),” the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explains. “Register two PSOs if possible; they must approve or reject user access requests for your organization, including vendors. Registered security officials have access to ‘My Profile’ and ‘Help’ in iQIES.”

More details are in MLN Matters Article SE19025 online at www.cms.gov/files/document/SE19025.