Home Health & Hospice Week

You're getting a bit of breathing room on the new physician signature requirements if Cahaba GBA is your intermediary. Old way: In a November message to providers, Cahaba said the new requirement for physicians to date their own signatures (rather than the agency or hospice using a date stamp) would take effect for claims dated Jan. 1 and later (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 42, p. 332). New way: Now the intermediary says, "after further consideration, Cahaba has determined that this change will become effective for all documents signed on or after January 1, 2011" (emphasis added). The new requirement, which "changes Cahaba's long standing policy of accepting a date stamp as proof of timeliness," applies to hospice certifications and home health plans of care, verbal orders, and certifications, the contractor says.