Home Health & Hospice Week

States tighten belts and providers will have to follow suit. Don't be surprised if your Medicaid fundingdries up, despite the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act help for states. Many states are crunching the numbers and realizing they still must make cuts in these lean economic times to balance the budget. For example: New York plans to reduce spending on home care services by $68 million in its next budget, notes the Buffalo News. And California will cut millions from its In-Home Supportive Services program because the state won't receive the full $10 billion in stimulus funding it first expected, reports The (Stockton) Record. • The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has included a new section on hospice caps and appeals in the Medicare Claims Processing Manual. New section 80.3 in Chapter 11 of Internet Only Manual 100-4 spells out contractors' requirements regarding hospice caps. Intermediaries must send each hospice [...]