Home Health Line
02/08/2016
by: Josh Poltilove
Home health agencies and hospices should not use ICD-10-PCS procedure codes, Medicare Administrative Contractor (MAC) CGS said in ICD-10-related questions and answers provided during a Jan. 27 webinar.
02/08/2016
Agencies within the nine states where CMS’ value-based purchasing demonstration has begun should act immediately if they have not taken steps to establish a point of contact for it.
02/08/2016
Honor, a tech-savvy private duty startup, announced Jan. 21 that its caregivers will become direct employees instead of being used as independent contractors. The employees will become eligible for benefits such as health insurance, paid sick leave, workers’ compensation and stock options.
02/08/2016
Businesses such as Uber have been caught up in an ongoing debate about whether the people who work for them are truly independent contractors. Uber has been involved in legal disputes over the company classifying its drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees.
02/08/2016
CMS has once again extended its moratoria on new home health agencies and new branches of existing home health agencies by six months in six metropolitan areas.
02/08/2016
By the end of 2018, CMS expects 50% of provider payments to be based on quality outcomes. Home health agencies should prepare by aligning with providers from other settings and setting up a way to share data.
02/01/2016
Add progress notes and/or discharge summaries to the list when responding to additional documentation requests (ADRs) including during the “Probe and Educate” documentation review.
02/01/2016
When answering M1306 (Unhealed pressure ulcer at Stage 2 or higher), note that pressure ulcers are not caused by friction — say in the case of what appears to be a serum-filled traumatic blister at the heel of the foot — but by pressure and shearing forces.
02/01/2016
The recent discovery of new hacking threats to medical devices and systems is a reminder that you should go beyond the four walls of your agency when you perform your security risk analysis under HIPAA.
02/01/2016
Agencies should frontload visits during the initial days of home care for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients. But on days when patients are not scheduled to be seen, your agency’s clinicians should check in on them with a phone call.

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