Home Health & Hospice Week

Providers remain confused about diagnosis coding guidance. A heavy new burden imposed on home health agencies by the new Attachment D just got lighter. Corrections to the OASIS User’s Manual’s newly revised section on diagnosis coding address questions HHAs have about plan of care requirements, CMS officials indicated in the Feb. 18 Open Door Forum for home care providers. The problem: On page four of Attachment D, CMS instructs HHAs to “ensure that the diagnosis under consideration is addressed in the home health plan of care and that the diagnosis under consideration affects the patient’s responsiveness to treatment and rehabilitative prognosis.” This requirement has thrown agencies for a loop. Two callers to the forum requested clarification on the matter from CMS. For example, an HHA caller from Georgia asked whether in a case where a patient is receiving therapy only and has diabetic neuropathy, it is OK that the plan [...]