Home Health & Hospice Week
PPS INACCURACY SHOULD PRECLUDE FREEZE
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission acknowledges in its March 1 report to Congress the inaccurate distribution of HHA payments under PPS.
"It's totally inappropriate for MedPAC to document the distributional shortcomings of the PPS system and then recommend an across-the-board reduction," blasts Bob Wardwell with the Visiting Nurse Associations of America. "That will hit underpaid services equally with those perceived to be overpaid."
Adopting a freeze "seems the classic error committed in large bureaucratic systems," Wardwell tells Eli. That error is "don't do the hard work to fix the specific problems, just cut everything and see what happens."
A rate freeze "only enhances the problems of repairing a payment system by creating a 'moving target,'" the National Association for Home Care & Hospice argues in testimony it submitted to a House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee hearing on MedPAC's recommendations. "Efforts at reform are hampered by across-the-board payment cuts that are directed against all [HHAs] arbitrarily ... imposing those cuts on providers who are serving underpaid patient categories."
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Budget:
INDUSTRY TAKES UP ARMS AGAINST 2007 RATE FREEZE PROPOSAL
MedPAC pushes freeze at House hearing.
The final decision on 2007 Medicare payment rates is probably [...] - Therapy:
PREPARE FOR CHANGE TO THERAPY THRESHOLD
MedPAC casts doubt on 10-visit threshold.
Smart HHAs should be ready to adapt to a new [...] - Prospective Payment System:
PPS INACCURACY SHOULD PRECLUDE FREEZE
One big reason not to pass a home health agency rate freeze in 2007 are [...] - Reimbursement:
GAO--CLASS III DME DOESN'T WARRANT PAYMENT UPDATE
Class lll reimbursement up 215 percent.
Class III DME devices won't have their own distinct annual [...] - Medical Review:
WARD OFF SOCIAL WORK DENIALS WITH THESE 5 TIPS
Schedule MSW inservices before medical review hits you.
Is your documentation for social work visits up [...] - Industry Notes:
STOCKHOLDER PROPOSES TO BUY AMERICAN HOMEPATIENT
Board will consider alternate strategies to enhance value.
The worsening Medicare reimbursement environment has contributed to [...] - Finance:
CUTS PUNCTURE RESPIRATORY REVENUE
Oxygen rental cap backlash to continue, expert predicts.
Reimbursement reductions took the air out of 2005 [...]
