Home Health & Hospice Week

Hospices have their plates more than full, but they had better find room for cap reports, which are due on Feb. 29 thanks to leap year.

If HHH Medicare Administrative Contractors don’t receive the 2023 Self-Determined Hospice Cap (SDHC) report by that date, a past due letter will be issued and payments will be suspended, MAC Palmetto GBA warns in a Feb. 6 post on its website. “File early so payments are not suspended,” the MAC urges.

“If the hospice cap self-reporting is not submitted timely, providers will be subject to payment withholdings,” agrees MAC National Government Services. “Hospice providers should submit the pro-forma calculation along with supporting documentation and a copy of the check, if an amount is due,” NGS directs.

Tip: But check with your MAC on what it wants. Submit “only the one-page SDHC Report,” Palmetto tells hospices on its website. “Ensure it is signed by an authorized official” and “do not include supporting documentation,” the MAC advises.

Don’t forget: “Each year Palmetto GBA performs a review of the hospice cap and incorporates any SDHC overpayment. This review also evaluates prior years to determine if there have been material changes (such as a change in the beneficiary count),” the MAC reminds providers.

See an updated job aid at www.palmettogba.com/ palmetto/providers.nsf/files/hospice_caps_4202023. pdf/$FILE/hospice_caps_4202023.pdf.