Home Health & Hospice Week

The HHS Office of Inspector General has added another home health item to its everexpanding Work Plan.

The watchdog agency will investigate “Duplicate Payments for Home Health Services Covered Under Medicare and Medicaid,” it says in a Jan. 16 post to its website. According to regulation, “Medicare pays covered medical services first for dual eligible beneficiaries because Medicaid is generally the payer of last resort,” the OIG notes. “We will determine whether States made Medicaid payments for home health services for dual eligible beneficiaries who are also covered under Medicare.” See the new item at https://oig.hhs.gov/reports-and-publications/workplan/summary/wpsummary-0000341.asp.