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HIPAA Final Rules Checklist
10/14/2013
Use this checklist to ensure that your agency is in full compliance with the HIPAA mega rule.
CMS says government shutdown won’t stop Medicare/Medicaid payments
10/07/2013
by: Burt Schorr
Home health providers needn’t fear a cutoff in Medicare/Medicaid payments because of the government shutdown which began Oct. 1 when the GOP-controlled House and the Democrat-controlled Senate failed to pass a short-term extension of funding for a broad gamut of federal activities.
 
 
MedPAC recommends higher rebasing of home health payment rates than CMS
10/07/2013
by: Burt Schorr
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPAC) has advocated more stringent rebasing of home health rates than CMS is proposing — one indication that that the industry’s effort to limit the effects of rebasing in the final PPS rule remains an uphill fight.
 
 
Hospices must enroll in Medicare Part B to bill for flu shots
10/07/2013
by: Barbara Bryant
Hospices that provide influenza, pneumococcal and hepatitis B vaccines to Medicare beneficiaries can bill for them but now, have to be enrolled in Medicare Part B to get reimbursed, administrative contractors (MAC) Palmetto GBA and CGS explain. In addition, non-hospice providers can cannot bill for buying or administering the vaccines to hospice patients and hospices cannot bill Medicare for this service using the UB04 hospice claim, adds Palmetto GBA spokesman Adam Myrick.
 
 
One in five heart failure patients hospitalized in first week of agency care
10/07/2013
by: Josh Poltilove
Despite pressure from Medicare to reduce readmissions, nearly one in five patients with a diagnosis of heart failure is hospitalized during the first week of home health care, new acute care hospitalization [ACH] data from OCS HomeCare in Seattle show.
 
 
Coordinate transportation for patients who are unable to make face-to-face visits
10/07/2013
by: Josh Poltilove
Take a few extra steps to make sure patients have a way to get to their physicians’ offices if you want to avoid costly face-to-face denials.
 
 
Hospitalizations of patients by diagnosis and week of care for 2012
10/07/2013
by: Josh Poltilove
Nearly a quarter of patients with a diagnosis of V54 are hospitalized during the first week of home health care. Meanwhile, 28% of patients with a diagnosis of V58  are hospitalized during the first week of home care, according to new data from OCS HomeCare in Seattle. The information represents data for 2012 from over 1,500 provider locations.
 
Home care employees can now choose insurance through exchanges
10/07/2013
by: Josh Poltilove
Home care employees who don’t get health insurance through their employer or certain other insurers such as Medicare or Medicaid will be able to proceed with shopping for it through a state health insurance exchange.
 
 
Final companionship exemption rule will change the way agencies do business
09/30/2013
by: Burt Schorr and Barbara Bryant
The Labor Department’s final companionship services exemption rule, which places an estimated 1.9 million home support workers under federal minimum wage and overtime requirements, will sorely test private duty agencies but won’t obliterate them, according to attorneys who have plowed their way through the 358-page rule.
Get doctors to detail homebound status on face-to-face forms to avoid denials
09/30/2013
by: Josh Poltilove
 Now more than ever, agencies need to analyze doctors’ narratives on face-to-face forms to avoid claim denials due to lack of enough detail to justify the patient’s homebound status.
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