Home Health & Hospice Week

MedPAC also targets 5 hot spots including nursing home relationships. The new recommendations from the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission could cost you precious time, resources, and Medicare reimbursement, if they're adopted. In addition to advocating sweeping payment structure reform for hospices (see related story, p. 26), MedPAC approved measures in its Jan. 9 meeting that would impose new administrative and payment requirements on hospices. The recommendations will go into the advisory body's March report to Congress. One of the biggest paperwork headaches would be a proposal to require physicians who certify and recertify patients' terminal prognosis to furnish "a brief narrative describing the clinical basis for the patient's prognosis." Currently, the physician just signs the cert or recert, noted MedPAC staffer Jim Mathews in the meeting. The medical record must back up the prognosis, but no summary or statement is required. Another hassle: MedPAC also wants a physician or advanced [...]