Eli's Hospice Insider
New Emergency Preparedness Guidance Hits The Books
You may feel like you’ve been living out your emergency preparedness plan for the past year, but you still need to keep up with EP-related survey requirements. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently issued its Updated Guidance for Emergency Preparedness- Appendix Z of the State Operations Manual (SOM), which includes provisions from two final rules on EP that CMS published in September 2019, according to a letter to state survey agencies. CMS also added “‘emerging infectious diseases’ to the definition of all-hazards approach in Appendix Z” in February 2019, the agency notes in letter QSO-21-15-ALL. “In light of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) public health emergency (PHE), CMS is expanding the Emergency Preparedness Interpretive Guidelines to further expand on best practices, lessons learned, and planning considerations for EIDs,” the letter says. Detail: In the document, “CMS guides that the communication plan should include all physicians and allowed practitioners involved in the patient’s care as well as any additional practitioners at [agencies] to reflect the coordinated, interdisciplinary approach to care,” points out the National Association for Home Care & Hospice in its member newsletter. The 113-page survey memo is at https://www.cms.gov/files/document/qso-21-15-all.pdf.
Eli's Hospice Insider
- Reimbursement:
Medicare Pay Increase Is On The Way, But Labor Share Change Muddies Hospices’ Reimbursement Picture
You could end up with lower payment rates than you currently receive, depending on where [...] - Regulations:
Pseudo-Patient Aide Competency Testing Poised To Go Permanent
Plus: No sign of CAA survey changes in proposed rule. Hospices’ workloads should get a [...] - Compliance:
Proposed Rule Smoothes Out A Few Addendum Wrinkles But Ignores Some Big Flaws
Day-late addendum can still lead to losing to a month of pay. Help is on [...] - Quality:
Are You Ready For Star Ratings, A Composite Index Measure, And More Quality Changes?
HVLDL measure confusion continues to plague hospices. A five-star rating based on CAHPS scores is [...] - Hospice News:
COVID PHE Gets Official HHS Renewal
PHE-related flexibilities will continue for some time. The Biden administration has taken its first turn [...] - Hospice News:
HOPE Tool May Include Cross-Setting SPADE Elements
Development of the Hospice Outcome and Patient Evaluation tool continues, and it might not be [...] - Hospice News:
Give Your IT-HQRP Feedback To CMS
If you have thoughts on how the Hospice Quality Reporting Program and technology should work [...] - Hospice News:
Extended Sequestration Suspension Saves Hospices $300 Million
Hospices’ efforts to fend off the reimposition of the 2 percent sequestration cut have succeeded. [...] - Hospice News:
‘Hospice That You Don’t Have To Die To Use’ Marketing Lands 3 Execs In Prison
You don’t have to be an owner or CEO to get a prison sentence for [...] - Hospice News:
California Hospice Owner Pleads Guilty
A home health and hospice agency owner has pled guilty to fraud and kickback charges. [...] - Hospice News:
HHS Launches Campaign To Boost COVID Vaccinations
Now that COVID vaccinations are becoming widely available in most areas of the U.S., hospice [...] - Hospice News:
New Emergency Preparedness Guidance Hits The Books
You may feel like you’ve been living out your emergency preparedness plan for the past [...]
