Big hospice changes are now finalized for home health agency-based cost reports. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued new forms and instructions that take effect for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 2015.
“Hopefully, home health agencies operating hospices have been planning for these changes,” says The Health Group in Morgantown, W. Va., in its newsletter. “The cost report requires substantial modification from previous reporting.”
The new forms contain changes in square footage to allocate movable equipment costs, documentation of reclassifications and adjustments, and allocation of costs, The Health Group notes.
“The forms have been primarily modified to report home health agency-based hospices in a manner consistent with freestanding hospices,” the consulting firm says.