Regulations:
Therapy 30-Day Worries Hound Home Health Agencies
Published on Tue May 10, 2011
Face-to face, outliers, and quality data submission also discussed in latest Open Door Forum. Home health agencies are two months into the new therapy reassessment rules, and they have more questions than ever about how the requirements are supposed to work. Many details of the 13- and 19-visit therapy reassessments have been worked out, but the ins and outs of the 30-day reassessment timeframe are sometimes throwing agencies for a loop. For example: The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reiterated in its May 25 Open Door Forum for home care providers that the therapy rules began for episodes with starts of care April 1 or later. But for recert episodes beginning after that date, can therapy assessments/reassessments conducted before the episode began count for the 30- day rule? a caller asked in the forum. And if not, does the first visit of the post-April 1 episode have to be [...]