Home Health & Hospice Week
Whistleblowers Get Big Chunk Of $5.9M Hospice Settlement
Two former hospice employees will rake in $1.1 million of the $5.9 million settlement nine state hospice chain SouthernCare Inc. has agreed to. In separate lawsuits, qui tam relators Dawn Hamrock and Patricia Beegle alleged that SouthernCare “admitted patients into hospice who were not terminally ill and lacked appropriate medical documentation showing such an illness,” according to a Department of Justice release. “The company allegedly treated some patients for many years.” RN Hamrock, who was a former clinical director for a Newcastle, Pennsylvania, location, raised the issues involved in her 2013 whistleblower suit before leaving the company, says the law firm that represented her, The Employment Law Group. Beegle worked in the Atlanta-based company’s Altoona location and filed her suit after Hamrock, according to a release from the Washington, D.C.-based firm. SouthernCare parent Curo Health Services, itself acquired by Humana and private equity partners earlier this year to combine with Kindred at Home’s hospice unit, bought SouthernCare in 2014.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Targeted Probe & Educate:
Medical Necessity Ranks In Next Tier Of TPE Denials
You’ve seen the top denial reasons, now look at the rest. Santa shouldn’t be the [...] - Medical Review:
Review Choice Demo Exchanges One Medical Review Burden For Another
Here’s why you didn’t see these key states in Palmetto’s TPE results. Where are some [...] - Payment:
Medicare Margin Climbs In Latest Reckoning
MedPAC readies yet another steep rate-cut recommendation. Medicare Payment Advisory Commission officials seem to think [...] - Hospice:
MedPAC Paves Way For Hospice Cut Recommendation
Hospice spending surpasses home health. A profit margin that keeps creeping up is one factor [...] - Audits:
Note These New Hospice-Related RAC Targets
Medicare cracks down on hospice bundling. Unlike home health agencies, hospices don’t have any Recovery [...] - Reimbursement:
Add Denied Claims Check-In To Your End-Of-Year To-Do List
Tip: Encrypt your emailed documentation per HIPAA, CERT contractor says. It may not be as [...] - Industry Note:
Know Corrective Action Plan Ins And Outs For RAP Trouble
Warning: Deadline is tight to submit CAP. If your RAP practices have gotten sloppy, you’d [...] - Industry Note:
Claims With Overlapping Dates Cause Confusion
If you’re running into U5181 claims returns and can’t figure out why, you may want [...] - Industry Note:
Give CMS Your 2 Cents On AOs
Do you think there’s something shady about accrediting organizations and the financial relationships they have [...] - Industry Note:
IRS Increases Mileage Rate By 3.5 Cents
Providers that have travel reimbursement policies linked to the Internal Revenue Service mileage rate should [...] - Industry Note:
MAC Look-up Tools Switch Entirely To MBIs
Just because you get an MBI number for a beneficiary from your MAC’s system, doesn’t [...] - Industry Note:
Hurricane Waivers Come To An End
Home care providers in the Southeast impacted by this fall’s hurricanes should take note that [...] - Industry Note:
Whistleblowers Get Big Chunk Of $5.9M Hospice Settlement
Two former hospice employees will rake in $1.1 million of the $5.9 million settlement nine [...] - Industry Note:
LHC-Lifepoint Venture Makes Buys In 2 States
A joint venture by LHC Group and LifePoint Health have purchased and will share share [...] - Industry Note:
Share HIPAA Load-Lightening Suggestions With The Feds
You have until Feb. 11 to give the feds a piece of your mind on [...]
