Home Health & Hospice Week
iQIES Problems Persist
Keep a record of your failed OASIS submission attempts, NAHC advises. While it’s still too early to get a full sense of how Patient-Driven Groupings Model billing is faring, problems with the iQIES system are dragging on. For PDGM, most home health agencies have had Request for Anticipated Payment (RAP) activity but not much volume on processed final claims for 30-day episodes yet, reimbursement experts tell Eli. Reminder: HHAs have been reporting a wide array of problems with the new Internet Quality Improvement and Evaluation System (iQIES) system for submitting OASIS files, which took effect Jan. 1. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services officials fielded a number of complaints in the Jan. 8 Home Health Open Door Forum (see Eli’s HCW, Vol. XXIX, No. 2). At press time, about 94 percent of HHAs have “onboarded” to the system, a CMS spokesperson tells Eli. That’s up from less than 90 percent as of the Jan. 8 forum. At press time, CMS had yet to publicly share any further information about iQIES troubles. But that doesn’t mean nothing is happening, the agency maintains. “CMS is actively working to resolve the issues related to submission of OASIS submissions to iQIES,” the CMS spokesperson says. “We will provide updates as they become available to the public via the Open Door Forums and messaging via the listservs.” What to do? Although it’s frustrating, for the time being affected HHAs need to just sit tight, advises the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in its member newsletter. “CMS has assured us that they are aware of and are working on resolution of the issues,” NAHC says. “We understand CMS is also working to provide a list of all the issues and any provider action that is necessary to resolve the issue. At this time, no provider action is necessary.” NAHC has asked CMS to “consider some remedy for providers as the iQIES issues are out of the control of the provider,” the trade group adds. “CMS is considering this, and we hope to have something new to report soon.” Meanwhile, affected agencies at least can do one thing, NAHC recommends. “We suggest providers keep records of their attempted submissions, and screen shots of failed attempts, if able,” the trade group says.
Home Health & Hospice Week
- Review Choice Demonstration:
Overwhelming Majority Of Texas HHAs Are Opting For RCD Pre-Claim Review
More than a third of Texas agencies have entered their RCD choice so far. Pre-Claim [...] - Medical Review:
Know Your Affirmation From Your Approval Rate
Approval rates are tougher. Under the Review Choice Demonstration, choosing the Pre-Claim Review option is [...] - Demonstration Projects:
New Year Has Brought New RCD Developments
Here’s how results calculation works. Some Illinois agencies were placed in the wrong review choice [...] - Reimbursement:
iQIES Problems Persist
Keep a record of your failed OASIS submission attempts, NAHC advises. While it’s still too [...] - OASIS:
Change How You Answer M2420 Effective Immediately
Response 2 now applies only to Medicare home health skilled services. Add another OASIS change [...] - Industry Note:
OIG To Eye IRF Discharges To Home Health
Will examination lead to drop in IRF referrals? Another home health-related topic has landed on [...] - Industry Note:
MedPAC Wants Cuts
As expected, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission has finalized its recommendations to Congress to cut [...] - Industry Note:
Beware This Hospice Billing Trap
Do you know how to bill for a day when a patient changes hospice care [...] - Industry Note:
CMS Quality Conference Is Next Month
If you’d like to join in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ quality improvement [...] - Industry Note:
CMS Bungles Some MBIs
Medicare’s conversion to using MBIs rather than HICNs has been pretty smooth, but hasn’t gone [...] - Industry Note:
MAC To Docs: Get Your HH Coding Together
Do you need help getting your referring physicians to provide the documentation necessary for PDGM [...] - Industry Note:
Include IDG Support
Don’t leave out Interdisciplinary Group documentation when you respond to a hospice medical review request. [...] - Industry Note:
Hospice Notifies Families About HIPAA Breach
Instead of electronic files, it’s hard copy paper files that have led Hospice of Anchorage [...] - Industry Note:
Hospice Adds To Name
Another hospice is tweaking its name to indicate its wide array of services. Last fall, [...] - Industry Note:
Hospice Builds Facility
Nonprofit hospice provider Pathways plans to build a 12-patient inpatient hospice facility on its Ft. [...] - Industry Note:
Supervisor Pleads Guilty
A home health supervisor has pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud in the ongoing Moriarty Consultants [...] - Industry Note:
NPR Criticizes Hospice
Mainstream media is taking another swipe at hospice. “Patients Want To Die At Home, But [...]
