Industry Note:
OASIS, Aide Waivers In Place For Hurricane Sandy
Published on Thu Nov 15, 2012
Waivers for certain Medicare regulations are effective Oct. 26 for New Jersey and Oct. 27 for New York due to Hurricane Sandy, the Cen-ters for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirms in a new MLN Matters article. "Use of the 'DR' condition code and the 'CR' modifier are mandatory on claims for items and services for which Medi-care payment is conditioned on the presence of a formal waiver," CMS reminds in article # SE1247.For home health agencies in affected areas, CMS provides blanket waivers for OASIS transmission timeframes and two-week aide supervision requirements by an RN, the agency says. Hospices also receive a blanket waiver from aide supervision requirements. Contractors can, at their discretion, provide a beneficiary's HICN for billing purposes during a public health emergency, CMS adds.More information is online at
www.cms.gov/Emergency.