Home Health & Hospice Week

What happens if therapists miss a reassessment time point? Home health agencies may not gain coverage of an extra therapy visit after all, even though language in the proposed rule indicates otherwise. In the 2013 home health prospective payment system proposed rule, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services notes that "currently, 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," according to the rule published in the July 13 Federal Register. "Some agencies and therapists believe they are being unfairly penalized by this policy and that the reassessment visit should be covered as therapy was also provided during that visit even though it was not timely," the rule points out. CMS seems to agree in the rule, proposing that "if a qualified therapist missed a reassessment visit, therapy coverage would resume with the [...]