Home Health & Hospice Week

Get ready for some new physician-related burdens to increase your workload. A number of provisions in the recently enacted health care reform package will affect home healthagencies. Don't assume they won't be a big deal just because they aren't solely reimbursement-focused. Several new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) requirements have program integrity (PI) motivations, said Lori Anderson with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services at the National Association for Home Care & Hospice's March on Washington annual meeting. One PI-driven provision tells CMS to implement a requirement that ordering physicians see patients face to face before certification, Anderson said in the April 12 session. An amendment to the legislation allows other professionals such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and midwives to have the face-to-face encounter with the patients before certification, Anderson said. But the physician still must perform the actual certification, after being informed of the visit [...]