Home Health & Hospice Week

Don't pass up a golden opportunity to lend a helping hand to physician referral sources and boost your marketing efforts all at once.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued new payment rates for home health-related physician services that took effect March 1. National average rates have increased 1.6 percent to $73.57 for certification (G0180), $57.02 for recertification (G0179), $123.23 for home health care plan oversight (G0181) and $130.33 for hospice CPO (G0182), reports the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

CMS issued the increased rates at the last minute, after Congress passed a law averting the originally planned 4.4 percent cut to physician payment rates.

This development is the perfect chance for home health agencies to raise their profile with physicians by passing along this information. "Out of sight is out of mind" for many referral sources, says marketing expert Mike Ferris with Chapel Hill, NC-based Access Health Education. Agencies "that don't stay in front of them all the time often won't get the referrals," Ferris cautions.

HHAs can provide mini in-services, informing physicians and/or their billing staffers in person of the new rates and reminding them how to bill for certs, recerts and CPO. Docs hold many misconceptions about billing for those services, Ferris says.

A more practical choice may be to send out a document containing that information, notes Helen Poole with Durham, NC-based Duke Health Community Care. With any mass mailing, HHAs should include a hand-written note to make the communication more personal - and therefore more beneficial to the agency's marketing program, Ferris recommends.

Physicians should appreciate the pat on the back such a communication represents, says consultant Linda Stock Rutman with the LarsonAllen Health Care Group headquartered in Charlotte, NC. HHAs can score points by passing along the news, which "might be seen as a supportive gesture acknowledging the effort physicians give to managing home care patients," Rutman notes.

Either in person or via a written bulletin, the most important point to stress to docs is the difference between billing for CPO versus certs and recerts, Ferris says. Many docs fail to realize that the only documentation needed for a cert billing is the signed plan of care. On the other hand, CPO billing requires documentation of 30 minutes per month of only approved activities.

Billing for certs is much easier and may be an easily overlooked source of income for the physician practice, Ferris points out. By educating docs on the process, you can get in their good graces - and at the top of their referral lists.

HHAs also might need to remind physicians that there are limits to how much they can assist practices in their home health-related billings. A good rule of thumb for not crossing the line is for HHAs to ask themselves if anything they're doing would replace physician, staffer or biller time. "If the answer is yes, don't do it," Ferris says.

Along with the rate information, agencies can include agency-specific developments such as new hours, enlarged service areas or new specialty programs, Rutman adds.

Furnishing practices with the information "is just one more way to add value to the relationship" with the referral sources, Ferris concludes.