Home Health Line
12/23/2013
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commision (MedPac) plans to ask Congress in March to cut Medicare payments to the 20% of agencies with the highest readmission rates among agencies with similar caseloads.
12/23/2013
Lawmakers might seek even more savings at the expense of home health to offset the costs of replacing the flawed sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for setting Medicare rates for physician services.
12/23/2013
The national average for acute care hospitalization has improved to 16%, from 17%, according to the most recent update to Home Health Compare, released last week.
12/16/2013
“Failure to improve,” is not an acceptable reason for Medicare contractors to deny claims for skilled home care, CMS confirms in additions its Medicare Benefit Policy Manual it posted on its website Dec. 6.
12/16/2013
 Freestanding hospices must provide more detailed cost data to CMS when new cost reporting requirements take effect. Although no penalties are associated with noncompliance, failure to fill out a new cost report form fully and correctly could hurt agencies because CMS plans to use the cost report data to make payment reform decisions.
 
12/16/2013
Clinicians should train to properly answer M1309 (Worsening in pressure ulcer status since start of care (SOC)/resumption of care (ROC )) in OASIS-C1, before it rolls out with ICD-10 Oct. 1, 2014.
 
12/16/2013
Job hunters are becoming more educated and demanding when it comes to looking for competitive employee benefits packages. Offering good benefits can boost retention rates.
 
12/16/2013
Even if the resumption of care (ROC) assessment is completed late, you may still answer “Yes” in M2250 (Plan of care synopsis) if the relevant orders were present within the 48-hour ROC timeframe.
12/16/2013
The percentage of registered nurses (RNs) leaving home health agencies this year has increased slightly, while the percentage of licensed practical nurses (LPNs) leaving agencies dropped by nearly 2% from last year.
12/09/2013
The final 2014 PPS rule will reduce Medicare payments to home health agencies by 1.05% or $200 million, CMS estimates. That’s slightly better than the 1.5% CMS originally proposed. 
 

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