Home Health & Hospice Week

Your home health aide trainee's skills don't have to be wasted, but they won't directly add to your bottom line either. Home health agencies may train aides in the home setting, but the trainee's services won't qualify for Medicare payment, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has told the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in a letter responding to questions on the issue. Aides also can be trained in the nursing home setting, CMS adds. Aides must complete at least 16 hours of classroom training before hands-on training can begin. A registered nurse or licensed practical nurse must supervise aide training in the home one-on-one, CMS says. Supervising nurses must meet certain requirements. Competency training in the home is allowed as well, CMS explains. But again, such services aren't billable to Medicare. Medicare legislation in Congress has hit a roadblock. Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) has pulled his staff from negotiations between the House and Senate to protest the lack of attention to rural issues, the Wall Street Journal reports. House Ways & Means Committee Chair Bill Thomas (R-CA) is running the negotiations. Many observers already doubt the success of the legislative package, which will require agreement on controversial issues including a new prescription drug benefit. Lawmakers may consider splitting the package into one bill for the drug benefit and another for other Medicare concerns, possibly including a home health copay and competitive bidding for durable medical equipment. The OASIS item most responsible for downcoding (reducing payment by putting an episode in a less severe category) is M0230 - primary diagnosis, says regional home health intermediary Palmetto GBA on its Web site. From January through March, 57 percent of HHA downcodes at Palmetto were due to M0230, the RHHI says. A whopping 49 percent of the incorrect codes were for diabetes. For tips on avoiding downcodes, see Eli's OASIS Alert at www.eliresearch.com. Health care receivables financier DVI Corp. and two subsidiaries have filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the Jamison, PA-based company says. The company is hoping the reorganization bankruptcy will allow "an orderly sale of assets" and is in talks with a few potential buyers, it says. Hingham, MA-based Occupational Health + Rehabilitation Inc. has announced that Capital-Source Finance, a subsidiary of Chevy Chase, MD-based CapitalSource Inc., is buying its receivables, as well as other providers' accounts, from DVI. DVI has hired Latham & Watkins as legal counsel and AlixPartners as "crisis managers," it says in a release. An AlixPartners principal has replaced Michael O'Hanlon as DVI's chief executive officer. DVI's chief financial officer also was put on administrative leave, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer. [...]