Home Health Line
04/23/2012

A year after the face-to-face encounter requirement was first enforced, physician compliance has improved, but agencies still struggle to fix incorrect documentation and lack CMS guidance on key aspects of the requirement.

04/23/2012

Make sure all staff members have a clear idea of your organizational structure – clinicians giving conflicting information about who they report to are one of many risk factors that can lead to a condition-level deficiency for your agency and put you on track for termination from Medicare.

04/23/2012

The chart below shows what standard-level deficiencies lead to the five condition-level deficiencies most frequently cited in 2011. The term “level 1 standards” refers to the highest-priority standards that are examined during every survey (HHL 2/21/11).

04/23/2012

The number of condition-level survey deficiencies was up in 2011 – a result of more detailed guidance in the new survey protocols on when to move on to this more serious citation level, experts say (see related story, p. 1).

04/23/2012

It wasn’t all ICD-10: HHS devoted most of its April 9 proposed rule to a new system of identifiers for health plans that it claims will be a time and money saver for providers.

04/23/2012

Expect enforcement of privacy and security rules in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) to intensify this year, and prepare for a final rule that will raise the stakes for violators.

04/23/2012

HHL put several ongoing questions agencies have about the face-to-face encounter requirement to CMS. Here are the answers we received:

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