Lively discussions are not new within home care’s small telephony vendor community. Never before, however, has a controversy spawned the birth of an entire new organization to address it, nor has it led to such cooperation among competitors. As state Medicaid officials finally begin to appreciate the advantages of Electronic Visit Verification, the way four of them are going about it has raised some serious concerns.
Speculation has run wild for two years about how CMS might change the home care payment system this time. Talk of payment bundling, where hospitals get all the money and dole it out as they see fit, is already appearing as a workshop topic. Rumors about payments going directly to patients have come and gone. […]
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius revealed on February 17 that the H.E.A.T. Strike Force effort has returned $6.80 for every taxpayer dollar spent. Two new cities will open H.E.A.T. offices this month.
Previously, this series addressed issues you may have with patients, point-of-care systems and CMS. Part three turns your attention to your own clinicians. What are the consequences if their documentation skills and OASIS accuracy is lacking? They range from minor annoyances to accusations of fraud that could potentially shut your business down. Knowing your staff’s skill level is mandatory for home care and hospice owners and managers in the Medicare arena today. We’ll tell you why and we’ll tell you one thing you can do about it.
Last week, we cited research indicating patients truly are presenting for admission to home health care services after shorter hospital stays and in far worse health. We argued that Medicare-certified agency competitiveness is better supported by preventing return hospital admissions than by shaving a day off hospital lengths of stay. This week, let’s take a closer look at Computer-Assisted Clinical Documentation Systems. Over the years, certain myths have grown up around point-of-care automation. The best way to attack mythology is with facts. Here are five truths.
Two thousand eleven will be a year characterized in various ways by the home care and hospice community. “Boring” will not be one of them. The year that welcomes the first Baby Boomers to Medicare will also see: the first effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) another string of Medicare pay […]
