Agencies seeking for burden reductions in the home health or hospice industries should submit comments on CMS’ new request for information (RFI) as part of the patients over paperwork initiative.
 
CMS posted the RFI on June 11, and agencies have 60 days from then to comment.
 
“CMS is committed to transforming the health care delivery system — and the Medicare and Medicaid programs — by putting additional focus on patient-centered care, innovation and outcomes,” the request for information states. “Our top priority is putting patients first and empowering them to make the best decisions for themselves and their families. Our continued goal is to eliminate overly burdensome and unnecessary regulations and subregulatory guidance in order to allow clinicians and providers to spend less time on paperwork and more time on their primary mission — improving their patients’ health.”
 
Ideas CMS is seeking include — but aren’t limited to — the following:
  • Modification or streamlining of reporting requirements, documentation requirements, or processes to monitor compliance to CMS rules and regulations;
  • Aligning of Medicare, Medicaid and other payer coding, payment and documentation requirements, and processes;
  • Enabling of operational flexibility, feedback mechanisms, and data sharing that would enhance patient care, support the clinician-patient relationship, and facilitate individual preferences; and
  • New recommendations regarding when and how CMS issues regulations and policies and how CMS can simplify rules and policies for beneficiaries, clinicians, and providers.
CMS always wants recommendations for how to:
  • Improve the accessibility and presentation of CMS requirements for quality reporting, coverage, documentation, or prior-authorization;
  • Address specific policies or requirements that are overly burdensome, not achievable, or cause unintended consequences in a rural setting;
  • Clarify or simplify regulations or operations that pose challenges for beneficiaries dually enrolled in both Medicare and Medicaid and those who care for such beneficiaries; and
  • Simplify beneficiary enrollment and eligibility determination across programs.
CMS launched the patients over paperwork initiative in 2017 and quickly solicited feedback for ways to modernize or eliminate outdated or duplicative rules and requirements — or requirements that get in the way of good patient care.
 
View the RFI at https://bit.ly/2XFL2BW.