Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Plus: Federal Trade Commission extends the Red Flags Rule until November 1, giving you 3 more months to get ready.

Health care is a sunshine industry as far as developments in the labor market are concerned. And yet another report has confirmed this fact. "Health care is forecasted to remain a large source of job growth in the labor market," according to Preparing the Workers of Today for the Jobs of Tomorrow, released by the President's Council of Economic Advisers or CEA. "The long-term trend toward more employment in health care is expected to continue, with many health care occupations, including medical records and health information technicians, registered nurses, clinical laboratory technicians, and physical therapists, expected to grow," the CEA report continued.

Based on industry employment projections from the Interindustry Economic Research Foundation, the healthcare and education industries are expected to contribute most substantially to job growth in the future.

Healthcare dominates the list of "Projected Employment Changes in Industries Adding the Most Jobs from 2008 to  2016" in the report, with the subsectors of nursing homes, physician offices, and hospitals growing strongly. Moreover, "other medical services and dentists," which is a broad category including the ever-expanding home health care, outpatient care, and medical and diagnostic laboratories subsectors, is expected to add the most jobs.

Experts consider The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act a big factor in creating new opportunities in the healthcare sector. The report cited physicians, registered nurses, and other health professionals and technicians as key jobs expected to increase in demand. And no surprise here, the health information technology sector is heating up with new jobs as well. "Jobs for medical records and health information technicians are also projected to increase," the report said. "Investments in health information technology will only accelerate the growth in this occupation." Meanwhile, experts predict increased demand for jobs in healthcare support occupations thanks to an aging population that will require care at home, at nursing care facilities, and in inpatient and outpatient settings. Support occupations that will likely grow in importance are physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, medical social workers, and home health care aides.

Although the Obama Administration pushes for less health spending and more efficiency, that won't affect the job sector's upward trend, the report assured. "Health care reform is expected to slow the growth rate of health spending as efficiency is improved. However, even with a slower growth rate of spending, the expected expansion of health coverage could lead to increased demand for workers -- including physicians, non-physician clinicians, health care support workers, and nurses -- to cover the newly insured population."

Under the Red Flags Rule, certain businesses -- including healthcare practices that bill patients after their services are completed -- are required to spot and heed the red flags that can be the signs of identity theft, the FTC says.

The rule requires practices to develop a program that addresses identity theft prevention techniques,as well as tools to detect and deal with any identity theft incidents that may occur.

Many medical practices were unclear about how the rule affected them, and once they realized they fell under the rule's purview, many were slow to implement programs. The three-month extension should help those practices get their plans in place.

For more information on the Red Flags Rule, including how to know whether it affects you, visit www.ftc.gov/redflagsrule.

• Medicare will pay for some telehealth services -- Get the lowdown on how to report them. If you're confused about whether Medicare covers telehealth services, look no further. CMS recently released an MLN Matters fact sheet on the topic that can help guide the way.

Keep in mind: CMS notes that Medicare beneficiaries "are eligible for telehealth services only if they are presented from an originating site located in a rural health professional shortage area or in a county outside of a Metropolitan Statistical Area."

Allowable telehealth services include certain consults, office visits, psychotherapy, end-stage renal disease, andpharmacologic management codes, and you should always append modifier GT (Via interactive audio and video telecommunications system) to the applicable CPT code.

CMS hammers home the reminder in an MLN Matters article that also reviews the Individuals Authorized Access to the CMS Computer Services (IACS) security system that will be required for bidding.

When the bidding window opens, suppliers will have three user roles in IACS, CMS explains: Authorized Official (AO), Backup Authorized Official (BAO), and End User. Make sure all the AO's information on your 855S is up to date before the bid process begins or risk costly delays, CMS urges.

The article is online at www.cms.hhs.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/SE0915.pdf.

Meanwhile, the CMS Program Advisory and Oversight Committee (PAOC) on competitive bidding recently held a discussion about capacity required to serve each competitive bidding area, reports the American Association for Homecare. "No decisions were made during the call," the trade group notes. A more detailed Round One timeline will be forthcoming, AAHomecare adds.

• Despite the feds' crackdown on home care providers in South Florida, utilization increases haven't let up. "Data shows that the utilization of home health services in South Florida's Miami-Dade county has grown tremendously over the past year," RHHI Palmetto GBA says in its August newsletter for providers.

Palmetto is holding a one-day workshop in Dania to give "extensive training" to home health agencies on billing and eligibility basics, including "insulin administration appropriateness," it says. The Aug. 20 workshop costs $45.