During a recent open door forum, CMS provided inaccurate information to home health agencies regarding their role in providing documentation to support certification for home health services, the federal Medicare agency acknowledged.
 
Reviewers will consider documentation agencies provide doctors “if it is incorporated into the patient’s medical record and signed off by the certifying physician,” CMS said in a March 23 post on its website. “More guidance will follow regarding the review of home health claims shortly. CMS apologizes for the confusion.”
 
During a March 11 forum to discuss its proposed electronic and paper templates to gather face-to-face documentation, CMS representatives said agencies’ findings would not be considered when auditors are reviewing documentation for compliance. But a prior national call and the 2015 PPS final rule stated that findings from agencies’ assessments of patients would be able to be used in conjunction with doctors’ visit notes in order to support eligibility for home health.