The hospital referral regulation wasn't the only home health entry in the Centers forMedicare & Medicaid Services' Semiannual Regulatory Agenda. Other items include:
CMS delays the proposed COPrule to February 2005. Another proposed rule is required because so much time has elapsed since the first proposal in March 1997. But the National Association for Home Care &Hospice says HHAs may be in for a shock -- a CMS official told the association the agency actually plans to issue the COPs ahead of the agenda schedule. "There are high hopes" the reg will be out before the February due date, says NAHC's William Dombi. However, CMS has pushed back to November 2006 the regulation making OASIS electronic reporting a COP.