Home Health & Hospice Week

Medicare officials have put more physician and beneficiary training tools at your fingertips.

Docs: CMS earlier released a Roadmap for New Physicians booklet outlining docs' compliance duties under Medicare (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIX, No. 41, p. 328). Now the agency has issued a related PowerPoint slide presentation, speaker's notes, and a video presentation.

These materials summarize the five main Federal fraud and abuse laws -- the False Claims Act, the Anti-Kickback Statute, the Stark Law, the Exclusion Statute, and the Civil Monetary Penalties Law. The materials aren't just for medical students -- you can use them as a refresher at http://oig.hhs.gov/fraud/PhysicianEducation.

Benes: CMS's Medicare Learning Network (MLN) has released a new product, "Publications For Your Medicare Beneficiaries." The factsheet lists a variety of beneficiary-related publications available to assist providers in responding to patients' questions about Medicare, all of which can be printed and provided to patients.

The publications include specific ones about home care, durable medical equipment and suppliers, diabetes services and products, and hospice. The factsheet is at www.cms.gov/MLNProducts/downloads/BenePubFS-ICN905183.pdf.