Hospices have about a 50/50 chance of receiving information on their billing patterns from the feds. Under its fourth national provider Comparative Billing Report (CBR) cycle, CMS will issue reports to about 5,000 hospices nationwide, regional home health intermediary Palmetto GBA says on its website. "This report is centered on a peer comparison of the revenue codes used in hospice settings," NGS says in its Dec. 28 post. The reports generated by SafeGuard Services "provide comparative data on how an individual healthcare provider compares to other providers by looking at utilization patterns for services, beneficiaries, and diagnoses billed," NGS explains. The report is about four pages in length, SGS says on its website at
www.safeguard-servicesllc.com/cbr. Timeline: The first group of reports went out in December to hospices in CMS Region 10 states including Alaska, Idaho, Washing-ton, and Oregon, SGS says. The rest of the chosen hospices should get their [...]