Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement
CMS Rolling Out Termination Notice Rule July 1
Home health agencies should get ready to observe new termination notice requirements starting July 1, even though some in the industry question the logic of the implementation date.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has issued reams of new information on the notices, which it's now calling expedited review notices. But providers have only a few short days to learn them before the implementation date arrives.
As proposed last November, CMS is requiring HHAs and other providers to issue these notices every time a patient's Medicare-covered services end, Tony Culotta, director of CMS' Medicare Enrollment and Appeals, said in a June 20 Open Door Forum that drew 2,000 callers.
The Office of Management and Budget approved the forms June 20 and CMS posted them June 22. However, providers can use the proposed forms rather than the finalized ones until Oct. 1 in any case.
The new requirement is an administrative hassle and will result in big costs for HHAs , fumes Gene Tischer with the trade group Associated Home Health Industries of Florida.
"This is going to cost agencies a bundle," he says.
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