Home Health Line
08/07/2017
by: Proposed 2018 PPS rule
The chart CMS created here explains how each 30-day period of care will be placed into Home Health Resource Groups (HHRGs) under the proposed Home Health Groupings Model (HHGM). Note that under the model, an episode is grouped into one subcategory under each larger category. An episode’s combination of subcategories groups the episode into one of 144 different payment groups.
08/07/2017
Updating the referral date for all patients who experience a delay in discharge from inpatient care is a strategy one home health agency has used to improve timely initiation of care as part of its QAPI program.
08/02/2017
by: Katherine J. Vanderhorst and Amy Craven
Elderly with dementia are thought to be at the greatest risk for abuse and neglect. Caregivers caring for a loved one with dementia are often overwhelmed, depressed, anxious, exhausted and lacking in supports to adequately care for their loved one. Many caregivers may be dealing with a loved one who is agitated, aggressive, has days and nights mixed up, wanders if left alone, needs help toileting and more.
 
 
08/01/2017
by: 2018 proposed PPS rule; HHL analysis
View the top 10 and bottom 10 case-mix weights for HHRGs under the HHGM, based on 2016 data.
08/01/2017
CMS is seeking to remove 247 data elements from 35 OASIS items collected at specific timeframes during episodes. Those changes would occur beginning Jan. 1, 2019.
07/31/2017
Home health stakeholders are readying themselves for drastic changes coming to the way CMS plans to pay agencies beginning in 2019 — and they’re taking in yet another decrease in the amount of money agencies will receive next year.
07/31/2017
Create a checklist to verify that your agency has explained to patients and/or their legal representative(s) all the patient rights outlined in the revised Home Health Conditions of Participation (CoPs) — and that you have provided them with the necessary documentation.
07/31/2017
Two months after CMS said there was no plan for another round of the probe-and-educate review for home health, the possibility of an expanded review is inching closer to reality.
07/31/2017
Many agencies are assigning primary diagnoses that could leave their claims open to risk. Consider that the code I10 (Essential (primary) hypertension) was assigned as the primary diagnosis code slightly more than 3% of the time on home health claims in 2016, according to data from Seattle-based OCS HomeCare, now a part of the ABILITY Network.
07/31/2017
Agencies have begun receiving denials stemming from a requirement that took effect in April. In many cases, those providers are surprised by what’s triggering the denials.

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