We confront home care and hospice’s toughest problems through five topical newsletters. Home Health News hopes you will find our newsletters informative, sometimes even inspiring. Please know that your feedback is encouraged to all of our articles but especially our occasional opinion pieces. This will be a place where the home health care and hospice […]
This is the fourth and last in our series based on our July interview with NAHC attorney Denise Bonn and her presentation to the NAHC Financial Managers meeting.
Several new software tools offer the ability to track Case Weight, but the creator of one of those tools says merely tracking Case Weight is not a fully accurate way to learn whether your PPS payments are where they should be. There is a much better set of indicators, according to Lewis, Inc. president Jeff […]
Wednesday, September 23, 2009 1:00 pm ET During an influenza pandemic, home health care workers can expect to be called on to provide care for hospital patients who are well enough to be discharged but who still need care, as well as patients who need home health care services. On any given day, there are […]
by Aricka Flowers HHNS staff writer As the Recovery Audit Contractor program’s January 1, 2010 implementation date nears, this new challenge to healthcare provider revenue looms as an imminent reality. Many providers look at the few remaining weeks between now and 2010 and are racked with fear and anxiety. Is the trepidation warranted? Not all […]
Abt Associates has released its annual report designed to justify CMS’s contention that home care agencies have been gradually inflating OASIS assessments since PPS began, resulting in artificially higher payments that do not accurately reflect a patient’s level of service need. The "case-mix creep" theory convined MedPAC to recommend four consecutive years of rate cuts and raised pressure on clinical software developers, OASIS checking services and OASIS trainers to help clinicians become ever more accurate and consistent with their assessments. The report was just released but we offer some quick reactions to its highlights and invite readers to examine it more closely.
ICD-10 Fact Sheet available for download.
There will be fewer steps to take to receive federal stimulus funds. This may hasten the day when hospitals and physicians have been paid and the government and its quasi-private Certification Commission for Health Information Technology may begin to set standards for home care and hospice EHRs, a necessary step before stimulus funds reach home care.
Verizon Wireless has been busy lately. The Basking Ridge NJ mega-cellular company that was formed by a joint venture between Verizon Communications and Vodafone appeared in two product announcements this week. Both home care mobile communications vendor CellTrak and Panasonic Computer Solutions Company®™ have partnered with Verizon to provide real-time, cellular data services for their respective devices. CellTrak now communicates via virtually every North American cell provider and Panasonic offers built-in, chip-level connections to the Verizon network from its Toughbook H1 Mobile PC.
by Heather Wilson There is not much new since the update last week so we will provide a recap of the current status of each RAC. For Region A, Diversified Collection Services is the only RAC that has not posted any approved issues on its website and therefore has not begun any automated reviews.
