Home Health & Hospice Week
LEGISLATION, LITIGATION DICTATE CONFUSING NOTICES
Congress required the expedited review process and termination notices in the Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000, and a federal appeals court decision in a beneficiary-initiated lawsuit (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XIII, No. 9) mandated the ABN changes.
CMS' hands may be tied on implementing the new forms, industry veterans acknowledge.
But blanketing beneficiaries with new notices they won't understand doesn't seem like a very good way to protect their rights, protests the Visiting Nurse Associations of America's Bob Wardwell, a former top Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services official.
"Perhaps after everyone realizes that the only winners in the written notice approach are the paper merchants, we can sit down with CMS and work on procedures that better assure that patients' rights are protected," Wardwell tells Eli.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Regulations:
GET SET TO TAKE ON HUGE NEW BURDEN IN TERMINATION NOTICES
Despite confusion, HHAs must comply with new notice requirement by July 1.
A massive new paperwork [...] - Education:
START TRAINING NOW ON NEW TERMINATION NOTICES
Putting new procedures in place for these confusing requirements may take a while.
You can't put [...] - Lawsuits:
LEGISLATION, LITIGATION DICTATE CONFUSING NOTICES
The confusing and haphazard instructions for the new termination notices and home health advance beneficiary [...] - Patient Rights:
NEW ABN INSTRUCTIONS THROW OUT DOC ORDER CRITERIA
Prediction: You'll issue a lot more ABNs under the new policy.
Get ready to hand out [...] - Fraud & Abuse:
SCOOTER LAWSUIT ROLLS ON-AND YOUR BOTTOM LINE MAY DEPEND ON IT
DMERCs accused of illegal post-pay review tactics.
After getting slapped with a lawsuit filed by The [...] - Industry Notes:
NEGLIGENCE VERDICT SLAPS HHA WITH $6 MILLION IN DAMAGES
Hiring worker with criminal record sealed the case.
A Cuyahoga County, OH jury found MedLink of [...] - Coverage:
SUPPLIERS CELEBRATE FUNCTIONAL AMBULATION STANDARD
But final wheelchair NCD lets in-home restriction remain.
There's good news and bad news in the [...]
