Home Health Line Breaking News
10/12/2012

(Updated: Oct. 12, 11:25am)

The latest update to Home Health Compare marks the first appearance of the claims-based emergency department (ED) use without hospitalization measure.

 

10/09/2012

Nearly 60 percent of Medicare beneficiary visits to emergency rooms and 25 percent of their hospital admissions are “potentially preventable” if patients receive better care at home or in outpatient settings.

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission staff offered commission members that assessment at the advisory panel’s Oct. 5 meeting.

10/02/2012

The first week of this month also marks the first week of fiscal 2013. As a result, Oct. 1 saw the kickoff for several new CMS regulations.

Review the list and make sure you're ready for the following requirements.

10/02/2012

The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) will review home health agencies’ compliance with the face-to-face encounter requirement in 2013, according to the new Work Plan published Oct. 2.

The Work Plan lists the issues the OIG will focus its scrutiny on in the coming year.

09/28/2012

Fifteen years after CMS published a final rule that required home health agencies to obtain surety bonds, that regulation still has not been implemented, the HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) notes in a report published Sept. 28.

09/24/2012

CMS has released a new tool that shows the public reporting schedule for the Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HH-CAHPS) survey at a glance.

The tool also shows what care periods will be included in each public reporting period.

09/20/2012

The number of Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees referred to home health in 2013 could rise.

CMS projects an 11% increase in the number of beneficiaries choosing an MA plan over Medicare fee-for-service care, bringing the total to 14.5 million.

09/20/2012

Your hospice will continue to be able to use contract nursing staff if you’re unable to hire sufficient staff to serve your patient population.

CMS has extended an exemption from the requirement that hospice core services be provided only by employees.

09/17/2012

The U.S. could be facing a growing shortage of health care providers just as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement age, Bloomberg News reports.

The reason: As career opportunities improve in developing countries, many prospective emigrants are staying home.

09/12/2012

Many agencies choose to add questions to the existing HH-CAHPS patient satisfaction survey, but CMS contractor RTI International now is asking providers and their vendors to check the wording of those questions closely.

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