OASIS Alert

The Centers forMedicare &Medicaid Services has issued 141 new diagnosis codes for you to use starting Oct. 1 and home care will find many of them helpful.

Most of the new codes will offer additional specificity to existing diseases, which can help you code more accurately. You'll find new codes in most categories.

Example: Look for expansion of the 799.2 (Nervousness) section,with newcodes for irritability (799.22), impulsiveness (799.23), and demoralization and apathy (799.25), among others.

"The new fifth digit ICD-9 codes can be used to report emotional and/or behavioral symptoms," says Marvel J. Hammer of MJH Consulting in Denver.

Other late effects codes home health agencies will find valuable are 438.13 (Late effects of cerebrovascular disease, dysarthria) and 438.14 (Late effects of cerebrovascular disease, fluency disorder).

• CMS has requested proposals for the portion of quality improvement organizations' (QIO's) 9th Scope of Work set to begin on August 1 and continue through July 31, 2011.

This Home Health Quality Improvement National Campaign will focus on working across settings to reduce preventable hospitalizations and improve management of patients' oral medication, according to the National Association for Home Care & Hospice.

• CMS and the Department of Justice have launched the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT) to combat fraud in the Medicare program, with a special focus on home health agencies and durable medical equipment suppliers.

CMS will expand its strike force team operation to target fraud locally in Detroit and Houston. The strike force already operates in South Florida and Los Angeles. The strike force teams will eventually spread to 10 other cities not yet named, the Associated Press reports.

The strike forces in South Florida and L.A. have collected $186 million and $55 million, respectively, in criminal fines and civil recoveries, HHS says.

• For help with overlapping home health episodes or home health advance beneficiary notices (HH ABNs), one RHHI might have what you need. Cahaba GBA has updated its quick reference tools on those topics and on-demand billing, Medicare billing codes, and prospective payment, the intermediary says in an e-mail to providers. A full list of the RHHI's home care tools is at www.cahabagba.com/rhhi/education/materials/quick_hha.htm.