Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Reminder: Use new billing software after Oct. 1.

If you haven’t taken a look at the 2017 home health prospective payment proposals, do so since these include a number of significant changes. Don’t miss your chance to comment on the changes, including new quality measures.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is taking comments on the rule until Aug. 26, a CMS staffer said in the agency’s July 13 Open Door Forum for home care providers.

You can see the rule and submit your comments online at www.regulations.gov/docket?D=CMS-2016-0111.

Other topics HHA addressed in the forum include:

• VBP: About 600 home health agencies in the nine VBP states have yet to register for the HH VBP Secure Portal, reported a CMS official. CMS will place agencies’ first VBP performance reports in the portal by the end of July, she said.
  To register for the portal website, agencies first must register a Primary Point of Contact (PPOC) under the program, the source has said in previous forums. More information about VBP is at https://innovation.cms.gov/initiatives/home-health-value-based-purchasing-model.
• Billing software: Watch for CMS to post its newest PPS grouper software on its website any day, a CMS staffer said. The software will be for the changes that take effect Oct. 1.
• Home Health Compare: Check your CAHPS stats on Home Health Compare to see whether your standing has changed. The site refreshed its CAHPS data July 13, a CMS official noted in the forum. CAHPS data updates four times a year on the site, she reminded forum attendees.