Industry Note:
New Therapy Reassessment Q&As Hold Bad News
Published on Wed Jun 01, 2011
CMS may not have been able to answer many questions at the latest Open Door Forum, but it has provided some follow-up guidance after the fact. However, it may not be good news for HHAs. CMS issued a question-and-answer set to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice regarding some therapy reassessment and face-to-face questions asked in the forum. In one of the Q&As, CMS makes clear that therapy services will still be considered non-covered even if the reason for the agency failing to make a 30-day reassessment visit it out of its control. For example, if a patient is in the hospital, refuses a visit, has an unplanned physician visit, etc., agencies still must make the 30-day reassessment deadline, CMS maintains. "An assessment visit by a qualified therapies (per discipline) is required at least every 30 days," CMS says in the Q&As. "As such, therapy visits provided in [...]