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OASIS Alert

Outcomes:
Beneficiary Focus Group Findings May Surprise You
Find out what really matters to consumers. Your patients are likely to be pro-home care,... Read more
Quality Improvement:
5 Proven Strategies To Improve Outcomes
Nobody's perfect, but even knowing this you may feel overwhelmed by the possible quality i... Read more
Home Health Compare:
6 Tips For Marketing With Outcomes Data
Home Health Compare could be your marketing ace in the hole. Once you understand consumers... Read more
Survey & Certification:
Who Can Complete And Correct OASIS Continues To Stump HHAs
And deficiencies may follow. What's worse than problems caused by an error in the medica... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
Diabetes Errors Top Downcoding
That means you'll likely lose money if you don't know the ropes. Downcodes will cost you... Read more
Compliance:
Prior Stay Inaccuracies Are Coming Back To Cost Agencies
HHAs struggle to find answers. More money soon will be flowing out of agencies' pockets ... Read more
Reimbursement:
Your FI May Not Tell You - But Mistakes Could Be In Your Favor
Accuracy on M0175 will ensure you receive the $200 to $600 per episode if you're entitled ... Read more
TEST YOUR SAVVY:
Education, Don't Underestimate Incontinence
Q: Is a patient considered incontinent if the only time incontinence occurs is when the p... Read more
News You Can Use:
Private Pay OASIS Data Collection Ends - At Least For Now
But the reprieve may not last. Home health agencies finally have something to be thankfu... Read more
Reader Question:
Clinician's Struggle With M0460
Q: If a patient has several pressure ulcers at different stages and rates of healing, how... Read more
Case Mix:
Inaccurate Answers Can Cost You Thousands
If you don't understand case mix points, you should - they can add more than $5,000 in rei... Read more
OBQI:
Home Health Compare Will Launch - One Of These Days
Use the delay to prepare for scrutiny. After several tentative dates and cancellations, ... Read more
Home Health Resource Groups:
Understand How Case Mix Works To Improve Accuracy
Motivate clinicians to focus on OASIS accuracy by showing them why it matters:... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
Here's One Time You Don't Want To Be In The Top 5
Muscle disuse atrophy may not mean what you think it does. Diagnosis coding continues to ... Read more
Training:
Free Web-Based OASIS Training Arrives
But you may want to time your viewing carefully. If you're looking for a free and easy w... Read more
Assessment:
For M0420, Constant Pain Does Not Equal 'All The Time'
How your home health agency helps patients manage pain will be even more important after t... Read more
Assessment:
8 Steps To Better Pain Assessment
Patients may perceive pain differently, but if clinicians document pain differently, reimb... Read more
Wound Care:
Once A Pressure Ulcer, Always A Pressure Ulcer
Claim your rightful ulcer reimbursement while you still can. If you've been confused abo... Read more
Education:
Vision Answer Requires Careful Reading
Q: When answering M0390, the term "corrective lenses" means: (a) prescription glasses, (... Read more
News You Can Use:
New Coding Examples Are Online
Thanks to October's introduction of V and E codes into the diagnosis coding mix, agencies ... Read more
Reimbursement:
You Could Have Christmas In October - If You Make Your Therapy List And Check It Twice
Would you like to receive an extra $1,800 to $2,200 for services you've already provided? ... Read more
Documentation:
Don't Throw Away Hard Earned Cash
Now that home health agencies bill by the episode rather than by the visit, one instance ... Read more
Therapy:
Fight For The Therapy Dollars You Deserve
Win with knock-out documentation. If you wait much longer to audit your therapy claims, y... Read more
OASIS Update:
October's Changes Could Cost You Big Bucks
Here's how to prepare yourself for what's to come. The time may "fall back" this month, ... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
Avoid These 8 Common Coding Errors
If you're pressed for time when selecting codes for your home health patient, you may mak... Read more
OBQI:
Flaws And Inaccuracies Don't Stop Home Health Compare
Your data will be up for comparison any day now. No matter how misleading you think the ... Read more
OBQI:
Your Care Is Reduced To 11 Outcomes For Public Comparison
While three patient outcomes will receive newspaper publicity, all 11 outcomes chosen for ... Read more
Quality Improvement:
Take Action To Prepare For Public Scrutiny
You may be about to experience your 15 minutes of fame. Will you be ready? Whether your o... Read more
Test Your OASIS Savvy ...Education:
'Where' Trumps 'Who' In Answering M0250
Q: In M0250, can IV/infusion therapy and parenteral/enteral nutrition "count" on the OASI... Read more
News You Can Use:
HIM 11 Is Becoming Obsolete
If your agency's computer services are inadequate, here's one more reason to quickly impro... Read more
Reader Question:
Must Paperwork Accumulate Forever?
Q: How long do home health agencies need to keep OASIS transmission reports? I know they ... Read more
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Can Cost You $200 Per Episode
Can you name one of the most commonly underreported case mix items in home care patients? ... Read more
Reimbursement May Depend On Checking Wastebaskets
Your agency may be leaking money if you don't track down incontinent patients. M0520 asks ... Read more
Can't Download Tally Reports? Hang On, The End Is In Sight
If you think you're the only one who can't access and download the Excel patient tally rep... Read more
OBQI Process Can Be The Key To Preventing Adverse Events
When adverse event reports indicated problems with surgical wound healing, St. Elizabeth's... Read more
6 Ways To Enhance Your Quality Improvement Process
Grace Grider with St. Elizabeth's Home Health in Belleville, IL confirmed the value of th... Read more
The Honeymoon Is Over - The OIG Sets Its Sights On OASIS
The government is ready to put its hands in your pocket again, saying home health agencies... Read more
Must M0090 Dates Match Visits?
Q: Must the date recorded in M0090 always coincide with the date of a home visit? A: M00... Read more
Drown Them In Data?
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released Aug. 13 a long-awaited report, j... Read more
Use New Format Oct. 1 - Or Else
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has issued the final data specifications ... Read more
Reader Question:
Is Compulsive Scratching Traumatic?
Q: Please help with coding this scenario: We have a patient with a chronic wound due to co... Read more
Training:
V Is For Coding Victory ... If You Mind Your Ps And Qs
It's not too soon to start planning the transition to V codes that occurs abruptly Oct. 1.... Read more
Training:
Visualize Coding Before And After October
Coding expert Joan Usher with Pembroke, MA-based JLU Health Record Systems shares this ch... Read more
Education:
Who Has The Right To Write In The Answers?
Test Your OASIS Savvy ...Fact Or Myth?Must the clinician doing the OASIS assessment be th... Read more
Coding:
Optimize Reimbursement With Correct Coding Choices
You may think coding is constantly mutating, but some things never change. Using an incorr... Read more
Coding Compliance:
It's Time For The Annual Code Shuffle
If you aren't using the new ICD-9 codes come October 1, the red you see may be more than t... Read more
Risk Management:
Prevent OASIS Assessment Legal Problems
10 Tips To Keep You Safe What you fail to write in your assessment can come back to haun... Read more
Reimbursement:
Once Is Not Enough For Skilled Nursing Visits
Sending a nurse on an unreimbursed patient visit can be a financial drain - or a golden op... Read more
Reimbursement:
Simplify Single Visit Confusion
If your clinicians aren't sure what OASIS action follows a single skilled nursing visit, ... Read more
Adverse Events:
'For Better Or For Worse' Challenges Clinicians
Sentimentality can result in unnecessary adverse events. Of course you would like all your... Read more
News You Can Use:
Home Health Compare Site Takes Hits
With only a few months before the national rollout, what you see is what you get for your ... Read more
Reader Questions:
If A Pressure Ulcer Is Healed, Does It Still Exist?
Q: How do you answer the M0 wound questions when a patient had a pressure ulcer in a previ... Read more
OBQI:
ONE MORE BAR MAY DRIVEYOU TO DRINK - UNLESS YOU'VE LEARNEDTHE ROPES
If you've figured out how to read the outcome-based quality improvement reports, you're r... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT THE NEW PAYMENT DIAGNOSIS?
Here's how to master V and E codes V and E codes aren't going to make your life easier - ... Read more
Reimbursement:
UPDATE CODING'CHEAT SHEETS'TO PREVENT BILLING CHAOS
Follow these 5 tips to safeguard your reimbursement If you're facing a pile of returned c... Read more
Training Tips:
HOW TO HANDLE PRIVACY COMPLAINTS
How well you train your front line staff to handle complaints about OASIS or HIPAA privacy... Read more
PPS:
MEDPAC RECOMMENDS QUALITY PAY DIFFERENTIAL
If you think the kinds of patients you're seeing in home care has changed significantly ... Read more
Assessment :
M0250 Can Dramatically Raise Clinical Severity Reimbursement
Make sure clinicians understand M0250, since their answers to this item can increase eithe... Read more
Benchmarking:
RHHIs Are Tracking Utilization - And So Should You
Keep yourself off your regional home health intermediary's hit list by comparing your uti... Read more
Education:
Multiple Manifestations Count
When choosing diagnosis codes for diabetic patients, can you sometimes use more than one... Read more
Utilization:
Visit Data Provide Opportunities For Benchmarking
If you can't explain why your utilization data is remarkably different from other agencies... Read more
News You Can Use:
New Site Links You To Home Health Resources
CMS announces the birth of a new Web site. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servic... Read more
Reader Question:
When Is A SNF Not A SNF? When It's A Rehab Facility
Q: The patient was discharged from the rehabilitation unit of a skilled nursing facility.... Read more
Assessment:
OASIS Accuracy Starts With 6 Scoring Basics
If you thought you followed OASIS instructions, but the score you marked doesn't seem log... Read more
Coding:
Follow These Tips To Conquer Coding Changes
If you wait until fall to think about ICD-9 changes for 2004, you'll be scrambling to ca... Read more
Case Study:
OASIS Can Be Your Falls Risk Assessment Tool
How one agency uses OASIS as a crystal ball to predict falls and take preventive actions.... Read more
OBQI:
Unexpected Benefits Come From Falls Prevention Programs
Underestimating patients' falls risk undermines your agency's reputation here's how to b... Read more
Adverse Events:
5 Falls Risk Factors That Could Trip You Up On Your Next Survey
Falls can be caused by seemingly insignificant issues, so don't neglect the basics, says ... Read more
Survey & Certification:
Study These OASIS Reports to Safeguard Survey Success
The new surveys have begun and your best defense may be a good offense. The Centers for ... Read more
OASIS News You Can Use:
OBQI Risk Adjustment Changes Alter Outcome Reports
Recent risk adjustment alterations may confuse agencies comparing old and new reports. Th... Read more
TEST YOUR OASIS SAVVY.........Education:
Order of Visits Matters
Q: On a case involving therapy and nursing, can therapy go in first as long as the nurse ... Read more
Reader Question:
Patient Locations is Crucial To OASIS Recert
Q: A patient was recertified for home care services, but transferred to an inpatient faci... Read more
OBQI:
SWAMPED BY QI? 5 WAYS QIOs CAN HELP
Prepare for the perfect storm, a SNF quality improvement survivor warns. The governmen... Read more
Outcomes:
FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE, HOME HEALTH COMPARE GOES LIVE
It may take months for CMS to put the correct information on the new Web site meanw... Read more
Quality Monitoring:
PARTNERING WITH QIOs IS A RISK BUT SO IS CROSSING THE STREET
Quality Improvement Organizations insist they're not spies for your local surveyor. Hom... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
V AND E CODES MULTIPLY OPPORTUNITIES FOR ERRORS
After working so hard to keep your staff from using V and E codes on OASIS assessmen... Read more
Education:
TEAMWORK HAS LIMITS
Test Your OASIS Savvy ... Q: Can the team caring for a patient complete the OASIS ass... Read more
Prospective Payment System:
BLAZE A TRAIL THROUGH THE INFORMATION BLIZZARD
Sick and tired of spending hours online hunting down information about OASIS? Here are... Read more
Survey & Certification:
SURVEYORS: UNANNOUNCED BUT NOT UNINFORMED
The merry month of May brings more than the Home Health Compare Web site it marks th... Read more
Survey & Certification:
ACT NOW TO REDUCE SURVEY RISKS IN 10 EASY STEPS
Nobody's perfect but with the right preparation you can be pretty close. Don't learn ab... Read more
Compliance:
PROVIDERS PROTEST SURPRISE OASIS INSTRUCTION CMS RESPONDS
Clinicians going into shock at the implications of a CMS staffer's pronouncement in Ne... Read more
OASIS News You Can Use:
DAVE WILL SOON BE YOUR SHADOW
DAVE a new measure designed to increase data accuracy will soon be moving from the... Read more
Assessment:
CAN PATIENTS ACE TOILETING AND STILL BE INCONTINENT? THE ANSWER MAY SURPRISE YOU.
Don't be misled M0680 really measures mobility, not toileting. M0680 asks clinicians ... Read more
Reader Question:
OXYGEN IS NOT ALWAYS A MEDICATION
Q: If a patient is on oxygen and has no nebulizers or inhalant meds, how do you an... Read more
OASIS Update:
BE ON GUARD FOR MORE SHIFTING SANDS SURROUNDING OASIS
The new OASIS data set may have received approval from the Office of Management and Budg... Read more
Reimbursement:
CONTINUOUS OR INTERMITTENT ASSISTANCE THATS THE M0670 KEY
Ask not if the patient bathes herself ask if she bathes herself safely. OASIS item M06... Read more
Assessment:
EVEN IF YOURE NOT FROM MISSOURI, YOUR MOTTO SHOULD BE SHOW ME
An OASIS assessment should be a moving experience. If yours are all talk and no action, ... Read more
Quality Improvement:
EXTRA, EXTRA! YOUR PATIENTS MIGHT BE READING ALL ABOUT YOU
Some home health agencies are about to receive free publicity whether they want it or... Read more
OBQI:
BATHING, AMBULATION AND MEDICATION MANAGEMENT COULD MAKE OR BREAK YOUR AGENCY
It may seem hard to describe what your agency does in three short phrases, but that has... Read more
Diagnosis Coding:
DONT LET OPEN WOUND CODES HURT YOUR AGENCY
Your patient may consider her surgery traumatic, but the government doesn't. If your cl... Read more
OBQI:
APRIL BRINGS SHOWERS, TAXES AND HOME HEALTH COMPARE
Agencies looking for the most bang for their buck should focus QI efforts on one or more... Read more
Therapy:
AUDIT THERAPY CHARTS FOR INCREASED REIMBURSEMENT
Answering M0825 incorrectly could have cost you $1,800 to $2,200 per claim but there's... Read more
Industry Notes:
FILTER PATIENT TALLY REPORTS FOR DATA YOU CAN USE
Think about coffee.You filter out the grounds and are left with the essence just like... Read more
Reader Question:
CUT THROUGH SINGLE VISIT CONFUSION
Q: If we make only one home visit to a Medicare patient, do we still have to complete an... Read more
OBQI:
ARE YOUR OUTCOMES GOOD ENOUGH FOR THE WORLD TO SEE?
Eight states will find their outcomes trumpeted for public comparison come April, whi... Read more
Outcomes:
HOME HEALTH COMPARE PREPARE FOR CONSUMER CONFUSION
  Finally agencies know the 11 outcomes consumers will compare starting in April... Read more
Case Study:
USE OBQI TO BOOST PATIENT OUTCOMES
When you think about OBQI, does the phrase "what have you done for me lately" come to mi... Read more
Survey & Certification:
YOUR QIO AN ACQUAINTANCE, NOT A CONFIDANT
Surveyors and quality improvement organizations may say they are entirely separate, but ... Read more
Training:
HOLES IN YOUR DOCUMENTATION CAN LEAK MONEY
Plugging gaps in the OASIS assessment with adequate documentation can prevent downcodin... Read more
Wound Assessment:
BETTER ULCER ASSESSMENT IS ONLY 5 STEPS AWAY
You're not the only one chronically confused about skin ulcers and accurate answers c... Read more
Medical Review:
BEWARE OF C0F0S0 PATIENTS
If a patient has no functional impairment, are you sure she's "homebound"? While many of... Read more
Compliance:
NAMES AND DATES REALLY MATTER ON M0175
Whether your new patient calls the institution she just left a hospital, a nursing home... Read more
Industry Notes:
SURVEYORS MUST BEGIN USING OASIS-BASED REPORTS
Using OASIS may still be optional for youbut not for your surveyor. The Centers for Medi... Read more
Reader Question:
DONT LET M0830 CONFUSE YOU
Q: If a patient hasn't received an emergency visit between transfer to hospital and sta... Read more
Regulatory Reform OMB BLESSES REDUCED OASIS ASSESSMENT
It didn’t happen when the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services thought it ... Read more
Prospective Payment System TO OASIS OR NOT TO OASIS?
Doubt no more — prepare to set your agency straight on the twisty topic of OASIS d... Read more
Assessment STAY ON HIGH ALERT FOR SIGNS OF DEPRESSION
Failing to deal with patient depression could seriously jeopardize your ability to achie... Read more
Physician Certification OASIS NOT ESSENTIAL FOR PHYSICIAN RE-CERT
Home health agencies may find themselves fielding physician’s questions on certifi... Read more
Survey & Certification 4 STEPS TO IMPROVED MEDICATION MANAGEMENT
If medication management isn’t at the top of your “to do” list, state ... Read more
Reimbursement FASHION MATTERS
The most important question you ask your patient may be, “What would you wear if y... Read more
Case Study TRACK OUTCOME NUMBERS FOR BETTER MARKETING
It takes hard work for a home health agency to attain impressive patient outcomes &mdash... Read more
Wound Care TOPICAL O2 HELPS HARD-TO-HEAL WOUNDS, STUDY SHOWS
A new study on the topical application of pure oxygen might let home care patients suffe... Read more
Industry Notes DON'T FORGET OASIS IN ADRs
Regional home health intermediary Palmetto GBA has some important guidance about medical... Read more
Patient Privacy GET THE WORD OUT ON PRIVACY NOTICES
So, what’s the word on the street about OASIS privacy notices? Well, actually, the... Read more
Marketing LET YOUR OUTCOMES CREATE INCOME
If you got it, baby, why not flaunt it? More and more home health agencies are looking t... Read more
Outcomes MARKETING OUTCOMES:
BARK OR BITE?
Despite the increased clamor over outcomes marketing, not everyone is convinced that ref... Read more
Pain Assessment TELL ME IF THIS HURTS
Assessing a patient’s pain can be a pain in itself, but with a few handy guideline... Read more
Recertification SOUND THE RECERT ALERT!
When it comes to scheduling OASIS follow-up assessments, is your home health agency allo... Read more
Assessment Tips AVOID COMMON RECERT PITFALLS
Scheduling mishaps are but one hazard for your agency to avoid when it comes to patient ... Read more
Quality Monitoring DEAR DIARY, TODAY I IMPROVED MY OUTCOMES
OK, so the last time you kept a journal, your older brother broke the lock and read it o... Read more
Reimbursement M00VE IT OR LOSE IT
Get up, get down, move all around — just don’t sit still if your home health... Read more
Industry Notes OASIS REVIEW OPTIONAL FOR DOCS
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finally has cleared up a major source o... Read more
Available Years:  2003  2002