by Roger McManus, MBA

A citation is any mention of your business on the Web. It may or may not link back to your website but, when fully completed, will always include a complete and accurate NAP. NAP means Name, Address, Phone number. These represent the lifeblood of your business’s online presence. Ideally, this information precisely matches your Google listing.

Citations hold particular importance when it comes to local search. They are key to Google’s and other search engine’s determination of your business’s authority, online and offline prominence and relevance. They are one of the major contributors to this assessment. Quality citations play a fundamental role in local search ranking algorithms. The more citations you have across the Web that display consistent NAP information the larger footprint your company will have in local search rankings.

[McManus provides an extensive explanation about the importance of providing citations for widespread coverage of your home health business. Particulars of exactly how they should be listed and doublechecked are noted in detail.

Too much effort? Rowan Reputation Resources has a team of experienced citation claiming experts whose job it is to make sure everything is absolutely consistent across 65 sites (including the data aggregators). Compared to the time required to do this with less experience and established systems to ensure accuracy, the price of $397 will prove to be a bargain. To find out more, click HERE and type “Citations” in the More Information box.]

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article originally appeared in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report. homecaretechreport.com One copy may be printed for personal use; further reproduction by permission only. editor@homecaretechreport.com

2) Nurse Practitioner Sentenced To Over Six Years In Prison For Unlawful Dispensing of Opioids And Health Care Fraud

A nurse practitioner was sentenced today to 78 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $3,749,121.29 for unlawfully dispensing prescription opioids and Medicare and Medicaid fraud, announced United States Attorney Nicholas A. Trutanich for the District of Nevada, Special Agent in Charge Aaron C. Rouse for the FBI’s Las Vegas Division, and Special Agent in Charge Christian J. Schrank for the Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Los Angeles Region.

[Hogue follows through on this reportage by indicating that one Alejandro “Alex” Incera, aka Alexander Jiminez-Incera, an Advance Practice Registered Nurse, 48, of Las Vegas, previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of distribution of controlled substance and eight counts of health care fraud.  Additional details about his cases of fraud and punishment are noted in this article.]

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article was reprinted in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report from the OIG website. homecaretechreport.com. editor@homecaretechreport.com

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has issued “Guidelines for Taking Disclosure, Cooperation and Remediation into Account in False Claims Act Matters.” These Guidelines identify factors that will be considered and credits that will be provided by the DOJ when providers voluntarily self-disclose misconduct that may serve as the basis for False Claims Act (FCA) violations, take other steps to cooperate with investigations and settlements, or take adequate and effective remedial measures.

[Hogue poses the following question: “Practically speaking, what do these Guidelines mean for providers?”  and then proceeds for most of this article to illustrate why for most HHAs that having a  Corporate Compliance Program is no longer good enough. The quality of providers’ programs is crucial. She also  notes for HHA readers the extent and nature of the scrutinization by compliance enforcers. A number of useful tips are provided to help clinicians and their agencies to protect themselves from costly missteps. Hogue concludes her article with the following warning note: “The feds are serious about Compliance Programs, so providers must be serious about them, too.]

©2019 Elizabeth E. Hogue, Esq.  All rights reserved. Reprinted in Healthcare at Home: The Rowan Report by permission. homecaretechreport.comeditor@homecaretechreport.com No portion of this material may be reproduced in any form without the advance written permission of the author.

CMS National Training Program Monthly Update Webinar
June 4, 2019
2:30 – 3:30 pm ET

This webinar will feature overviews of:

• Accountable Care Organizations 2019
• National Training Program Workshops Registration is required to attend

Visit the CMS learning management system And log in to enroll. Upon registration, you’ll receive an email and appointment.

May 2019 Hospice Compare refresh of quality data is now available; now includes additional information on hospice characteristics to complement existing quality and patient experience metrics.

[The author notes that the May 2019 quarterly Hospice Compare refresh of quality data is now available. It is based on Hospice Item Set (HIS) quality measure results from data collected Q3 2017-Q2 2018 and Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) Survey® results reported Q3 2016 – Q2 2018.  A great deal of information is provided about the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) and its Final Rule

Beginning with the May 2019 refresh, Hospice Compare will include additional information on hospice characteristics to complement the quality and patient experience metrics already available. This information will further empower Hospice Compare users to engage in meaningful conversations with their providers and make informed decisions about selecting a hospice. Empowering consumers with useful information is one way CMS works to ensure safety and quality in the healthcare system. In addition, in May 2019, CMS is updating the zip code database powering Hospice Compare’s search function, helping to ensure accurate search results.

For more information please see the “Hospice Compare May 2019 Refresh Fact Sheet” and the “Hospice Compare May 2019 Refresh Question & Answer” document in the Downloads section of the Public Reporting: Background and Announcements webpage. Visit Hospice Compare to view the data.]

 Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE) Final Rule will provide seamless, customized care to meet individual patients’ needs

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) finalized a rule today to update and modernize requirements for the Programs of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly (PACE). The PACE program provides comprehensive medical and social services to certain frail, elderly individuals who qualify for nursing home care but, at the time of enrollment, can still live safely in the community.

“At CMS, our top priority remains putting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries first by removing unnecessary burdens that get in the way of healthcare providers spending time with their patients,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma. “The changes we are making to the PACE program will help to protect our seniors from abuse and neglect. This rule strengthens the PACE program by offering a more flexible and adaptable approach to the coordinated care that patients receive from PACE organizations, which will allow care teams to provide seamless, better-tailored care to individual patients.”For more specifics on the Final Rule for PACE, see: www..federalregister.gov/documents/2019/06/03/2019-11087/medicare-and-medicaid-programs-programs-of-all-inclusive-care-for-the-elderly

For a fact sheet on the final rule, please visit: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/programs-all-inclusive-care-elderly-pace-final-rule-cms-4168-f

©2019 by Rowan Consulting Associates, Inc., Colorado Springs, CO. All rights reserved. This article was reprinted in Tim Rowan’s Home Care Technology Report from a CMS news release. homecaretechreport.com

The upcoming Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM), scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2020, will drastically alter the way home health organizations of all sizes manage operations. Among the several reasons is CMS’s decision to anticipate that providers will change behaviors in order to keep payments high and cut payments 6.42 percent in order to mitigate that assumed behavior. If providers do not change behaviors to boost payments, they stand to lose that 6.42%, or more than $1 billion across the industry, once PDGM takes effect.

[Donar explains in this article how HHAs will find it “increasingly more challenging” in 2021 to have the equity needed to  “fuel their missions to provide quality patient care.” According to the author. ” Billing demands will increase, reimbursements will change (not always for the better), and documentation will need to be a lot tighter. “She advises engaging outsourced billing and coding professionals to achieve a healthy bottom line. Not to mention these outsourced individuals “have the time & resources to code and bill properly.” They have, in short, proven processes. And, importantly, “They free you to focus on providing quality patient care.”

Kristin Donar, Director of Revenue Cycle Management for HEALTHCAREfirst, leads a team of more than 100 RCM team members who provide coding, clinical documentation review, and billing services for home health and hospice organizations nationwide. Donar is a Certified Lean Six Sigma Yellow Belt in Process Improvement with 12 years of management experience and previously served as Implementation Supervisor and Director of Coding Services.