Home health agencies waiting on pins and needles for new PPS grouper software heaved a sigh of relief Oct. 1.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released at least part of its grouper information for the revised prospective payment system that will take effect Jan. 1.
CMS' grouper package in-cludes "written grouper logic (e.g., pseudocode) and associated diagnosis code tables for agencies developing their own PPS grouper program," the agency explains in a post to its home health Web site at
www.cms.hhs.gov/center/hha.asp.
"CMS will issue additional elements of the Home Health Case Mix Grouper Software Package when grouper software testing is complete," it promises.
In addition, the agency issued some technical corrections to the final rule and more user-friendly PPS rule tables on the site.
More help: Agencies can also use grouper tools offered by software companies, consultants and other vendors, experts note. One example is Delta Health Technologies' free PPS Compare tool available at
www.deltahealthtech.com.
Note: For information on signing up for M. Aaron Little's Eli-sponsored audioconference, "Home Health PPS Refinements: Crucial 2008 How-to's Your Billing Staff Must Know Now,".
