Home Health & Hospice Week
Zero In On Patients' Infection Risks
If you want to protect your workers and patients against infections, you may want to change where you're looking. A study published in a recent American Journal of Infection Control found that "cell phones used by patients and their visitors were twice as likely to contain potentially dangerous bacteria as those of healthcare workers," states a press release on the research. The study focused on hospital patients, but the results can give home care providers food for thought on teaching patients how to limit their own infection risk. Findings: Samples from almost 40 percent of 133 patients' phones had the bacteria compared to about 21 percent of 67 healthcare workers' phones, according to the study authored by researchers at the Inonu University in Malatya, Turkey. Additionally, seven patient phones contained multidrug resistant (MDR) pathogens such as MRSA. By contrast, the testing didn't uncover any hospital employee phones that had MDR bacteria.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Face To Face:
OASIS Requirements May Make Your F2F Burden Heavier
Confusion persists over how to handle a missed encounter and the start of care. A [...] - Regulations:
Keep Your Therapy Reassessment Rules Straight
PPS proposed rule and illegal alien patients also addressed in latest Open Door Forum. Do [...] - Hospice:
Vital Hospice Instructions Coming From Medicare Soon
Forthcoming guidance will address hospice cap methodology, quality measure reporting. Changes are coming to the [...] - Durable Medical Equipment:
Round 2 Of DME Bidding Adds Nationwide Diabetic Supplies
Program expands to 91 metro areas in 2013. If your patients aren't affected by competitive [...] - Audits:
4 Strategies To Stop RACs From Catching You By Surprise
It's time to improve your billing, documentation. The RAC program is coming to Medicaid, and [...] - Industry Note:
Medicare Introduces Payment Bundling For Post-Acute Care
The program is voluntary -- for now. CMS has unveiled a payment methodology home care organizations [...] - Industry Note:
Don't Rush Revalidation
You soon may need to submit your enrollment information again to get revalidated under new [...] - Industry Note:
Payment System Glitch Returns Claims Incorrectly
Look over your returned claims carefully if they've been RTP'd with reason code 31018 or [...] - Industry Note:
USA Today Focuses On Hospice Fraud, Lobbying
The hospice industry is getting a bad rap in a widely read national newspaper. USA [...] - Industry Note:
Zero In On Patients' Infection Risks
If you want to protect your workers and patients against infections, you may want to [...] - Industry Note:
Beware These Therapy Billing Pitfalls Under Part B
HHAs that run a Part B outpatient therapy business that goes into patients' homes should [...] - Industry Note:
Instructions For ICD-10 Billing Imminent
Watch for instructions to come soon on billing for claims that cover the ICD-9-to-ICD-10 coding [...] - Industry Note:
Providers Eye Congressional Super Committee For Cuts
The so-called super-committee appointed to propose budget cuts has begun work on its task even [...] - Industry Note:
Physician Pleads Guilty In HHA Fraud Scheme
It's not just the HHA-related staff that are going down in a $25 million fraud [...] - Industry Note:
FBI Search In Minnesota Results In Fraud Charges
When the FBI turns up to search your workplace, it rarely goes well. Earlier this [...]
