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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Notes:

RESEARCHERS CRAFT STANDARD OASIS INTERVIEW PROTOCOLS

Published on Thu Mar 20, 2003

The National Association for Home Care and Hospice and Fazzi Associates will work together on a nationwide project underwritten by 3M Home Health Systems to identify strategies and protocols home health agencies can use to ensure OASIS data accuracy.

Researchers will interview top clinicians, and participants "will design and recommend standardized OASIS interview protocols that agencies can use to improve the accuracy and consistency of the assessment process," Salt Lake City-based 3M says in a release. Problematic OASIS questions will be recommended to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services for revision or deletion from the assessment tool.

Fazzi researchers have found in their OASIS audits that 60 percent of assessments contain errors, says Robert Fazzi. The error rate affects both quality measures derived from OASIS and reimbursement.

The organizations will present their findings at NAHC's annual conference in October and will make a report available to the industry.

  • The HHS Office of Inspector General has found that Kentucky overpaid $727,000 for home oxygen and supplies in the three-year period ended Dec. 31, 2000. In collaboration with the state's Auditor of Public Accounts, the watchdog found the state was paying more than Medicare's allowable, and recommended the state refund half a million dollars to the federal government and update its oxygen payment limits.

  • More HIPAA resources are becoming available as the April 14 deadline for compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy regulation nears. The transcript of CMS' Feb. 28 HIPAA Roundtable conference call is now available at www.cms.hhs.gov/hipaa/hipaa2/events/default.asp#roundtable and more HIPAA roundtable calls are planned on March 26 and April 30, CMS says.

    And in a notice published in the March 20 Federal Register, the HHS Office for Civil Rights sets out the procedure for HIPAA complaints. The notice explains that people who think a health care provider has run afoul of HIPAA privacy rules need to submit their gripes, in writing, to the OCR regional office in their area. A complaint naming the provider and describing the purported HIPAA violation will empower OCR officials to investigate, says the agency.

  • National Home Health Care Corp. has reported net income of $1.5 million on revenues of $24.6 million for the quarter ended Jan. 31, compared with net income of $1.4 million on revenues of $20.5 million for the same period the previous year. The 20 percent increase in revenues was fueled by the Scarsdale, NY-based home health provider's acquisition of Medical Resources Inc. and NHHC's resulting expansion into Massachusetts.

    NHHC has made another acquisition, this time buying certain assets of Connecticut-based Professional Relief Nurses Inc. The acquisition of PRN, a Medicare-certified home care company with annual revenues of about $4 million, expands NHHC's market share in the state, the company says.

  • Brooklyn, NY-based New York Health Care Inc. has reported net income of $378,368 on revenues of $38.9 million for all of 2002, compared to a $352,886 profit on revenues of $34.3 million for 2001. The home care company reduced its days' sales outstanding from 61 days in 2001 to 54 days in 2002, it says.

  • Matria Healthcare Inc. has inked a contract with Universal Care Inc. to provide comprehensive obstetrical disease management services to Universal's 300,000 covered lives in Southern California, the Marietta, GA-based DM company says. Matria also has signed a contract to provide comprehensive prenatal services for high-risk pregnancies to Neighborhood Health Partnership's 210,000 covered lives in South Florida.

  • Apria Healthcare Group Inc. is establishing stock ownership requirements for its executives to "align the interests of senior management with the interests of the company's stockholders," said board Chairman Ralph Whitworth. Execs from senior vice president level on up will have to acquire and hold stock with a value from 1.5 to 3 times base salary, depending on the position, reports City News Service. Conditions for selling the Lake Forest, CA respiratory giant's stock also will be imposed, reports the Southern California news service.

  • Fraud busts relating to power wheelchairs continue to escalate. A federal judge March 18 sentenced Barry Haught to seven years in prison for his role in an elaborate scheme to submit false claims for power wheelchairs, alternating pressure mattresses and related items. Well over a dozen individuals and corporations have been charged in the case, which has been racking up guilty pleas and convictions at a steady clip over the last year.

    In addition to the prison time, Haught was ordered to pay more than $14 million in restitution. The sentence represents the latest development in "Operation Hardgear," a multi-agency fraud enforcement operation targeting Sunshine State DME suppliers.

  • Lehigh Valley, PA-based Air Products bought Broadview, IL-based DependiCare Home Health Inc. for an undisclosed sum March 18. With locations also in Sycamore, Elgin and South Beloit, IL, DependiCare will provide a strategic hub for further growth in the Illinois/Indiana area providing home medical equipment, oxygen therapy equipment and related supplies. Roger Miller will continue as DependiCare's president.

  • The U.S. House of Representatives passed March 4 a resolution establishing an annual National Visiting Nurse Association Week, reports the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. The Senate still must vote on the measure before it can go to the President to be signed into law, the VNAA notes.

     

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