Home Health Line Breaking News
07/19/2012

The second set of publicly reported patient satisfaction scores posted today is a mixed bag at best, with only one score showing improvement while two are down slightly from the April update of Home Health Compare.

07/18/2012

A new HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) report has found that several companies bidding for zone program integrity contractor (ZPIC) contracts had conflicting business relationships with other segments of Medicare that could potentially affect CMS’ efforts to fight fraud. 

07/17/2012

(This story was updated at 4 pm on July 23)

CMS is implementing a new safeguard to protect the privacy of patients who respond to the HH-CAHPS survey, but the change limits the availability of data you can use to improve your agency’s performance on patient satisfaction.


 

07/11/2012

CMS expects to know a final date for the long-awaited outlier fix within days.

The federal Medicare agency shared this and other updates during the July 11 open-door forum.

07/10/2012

On Monday, the department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that as of July 1, 2012, there were 9 new accountable care organizations (ACO) serving 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries. 

07/06/2012

(Updated at 4:30pm on July 9)

The proposed 2013 PPS rule for home health contains a net 0.1% payment cut, intermediate sanctions for CMS surveys and additional flexibility for the face-to-face encounter and therapy reassessment requirements.

07/03/2012

There might be a problem with duplicate Medicare payments for hospice patients’ drugs – but no one is really sure.

That’s the result of a new OIG report published July 3.

06/29/2012

CMS has announced that the next update of patient satisfaction scores on Home Health Compare is scheduled for July 19.

Your preview reports are available effective immediately.

06/28/2012

(Last updated at 4:11pm on June 29) In a surprise decision, the Supreme Court has upheld  the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in a 5-4 decision.

For home health agencies, this means that burdensome provisions of the law, such as the face-to-face encounter requirement and the rebasing of home health rates starting in 2014, will stand.

06/25/2012

Here is a list of things to think about as the Supreme Court ruling on health care reform approaches. Anything you want to know about that we didn't mention? Let me know at tirgang@decisionhealth.com.

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