Industry Notes:
Intermediary Targets High Utilizers In 4 Counties
Published on Mon Jan 04, 2010
Attendance at education sessions is 'strongly encouraged,' RHHI says. Home health agencies in Florida and Texas will see even more scrutiny in the new year. Regional home health intermediary Palmetto GBA has identified three high utilization countiesin Texas (Dallas, Houston, McAllen) and one in Florida (Miami) that will undergo special education and monitoring, the RHHI says in its January newsletter for providers. "Based on analysis by county, one county accounted for one third of the charges for Florida and three counties accounted for one third of the charges in Texas," Palmetto explains. Watch for: Palmetto will be sending "Comparative Billing Reports" to "high utilization" providers in these four counties, the contractor says. The reports will compare agencies' utilization to state and national averages. Palmetto urges such high utilization home health agencies to double-check their Medicare compliance, determine their risk level for receiving home care overpayments, and remedy any overpayments found. Palmetto [...]