Home Health & Hospice Week

Final rule language leaves many agencies with wrong impression, expert warns. If you thought you were gaining coverage of an extra visit when a therapist misses a reassessment deadline, think again. Old way: When a qualified therapist misses one of the required reassessment visits, once the therapist has completed the required reassessment, coverage resumes after this reassessment visit, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services explained in its 2013 home health prospective payment system proposed rule this summer. New way: Starting Jan. 1., when a therapist misses a reassessment, "therapy coverage would resume with the visit during which the qualified therapist completed the late reassessment, not the visit after the therapist completed the late reassessment," CMS confirms in the final rule published in the Nov. 8 Federal Register. Many home health agencies cheered this change, reading it to mean an extra visit's coverage -- the visit during which the therapist's reassessment [...]