New CoP would cost HHAs nearly $3.2 million in first year. Don’t be surprised if a newly proposed change to the home health Conditions of Participation leads to some fingers pointed at home health agencies for cherry picking patients. Background: [...]
Industry seeks CMS clarification on face-to-face-related instruction. The extension and expansion of the Review Choice Demonstration may bring a troublesome new policy to your doorstep — unless home health agencies and their advocates can rein it in. On May 14, [...]
Questions remain as PHE end date passes. Federal officials in Medicare and many other programs have been issuing steady updates about the COVID-19 public health emergency’s wind-down process, but home health and hospice agencies are still left with questions at [...]
Tip: Tighten up those OASIS completion and submission time frames. The past two years have been a blur of COVID-sparked regulatory waivers, legislative changes, compliance rewrites — and rewrites of the rewrites. If you’ve lost track of exactly which flexibility [...]
CMS tries for middle ground with change to observation for aides of nonskilled patients. A requirement that would have rendered a COVID-19 regulatory flexibility basically unusable has now been ditched. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services “is finalizing policies [...]
Will you qualify for the nationwide smaller or larger cohort? The Value-Based Purchasing program is expanding na-tionwide, and it will change how home health agencies are paid. Agencies need to get a firm grasp of the specifics as soon as [...]
Question: We saw a patient for 24 hours in the emergency department (ED) and two days in observation. The patient, who was covered by Medicare Part A, was upset when she got a bill and called to ask why her [...]
From billing to observation facts, find out how to respond. “I stayed overnight in the hospital, so why am I not covered under Part A Medicare? I recently met my deductible” Every ED has heard this question from patients who [...]
Count Medicare deductibles and premiums among the costs rising in 2021. “The Medicare Part A inpatient deductible that beneficiaries will pay when admitted to the hospital is $1,484 in 2021, an increase of $76 from $1,408 in 2020,” the Centers [...]
Accessibility is required under the law, CoPs. Take to heart some CMS comments about providing virtual visits to patients with disabilities, or you may face problems down the line. In the home health payment final rule for 2021, the Centers [...]
