Online resource packed with regulatory news and expert guidance, tips & tools pertinent to professionals across the post-acute care continuum.
CMS is seeking experienced hospice providers and clinicians to take part in focus groups to help develop a hospice patient assessment tool. Those interested in participating can apply on CMS’ website. The deadline for application submission is Aug. 26. Eight virtual focus groups will take place after that date. Electronic health record (EHR) vendors who […]
More than 175 commenters shared their thoughts on the proposed hospice payment rule. CMS accepted public comment on FY 2020 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements through June 18. Comments weighed in on proposals to rebase payment rates, eliminate wage index lag, and introduce election statement modifications and an […]
In an effort to reduce burden, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and CMS are seeking to update regulations around nondiscrimination outlined in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The proposed rule was published in the Federal Register June 14. It would make “substantial revisions” to Section 1557 of the ACA by eliminating “provisions […]
Two reports are available in your Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) non-validation reports folder: Hospice provider preview report: Review Hospice Item Set (HIS) quality measure results from the fourth quarter of 2017 to the third quarter of 2018 Hospice Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS®) provider preview report: Review facility-level CAHPS […]
Agencies seeking for burden reductions in the home health or hospice industries should submit comments on CMS’ new request for information (RFI) as part of the patients over paperwork initiative. CMS posted the RFI on June 11, and agencies have 60 days from then to comment. “CMS is committed to transforming the health care delivery […]
Profile of Older Americans, published by the Administration for Community Living, is available with data from 2018. The profile includes key topic areas such as income, living arrangements, education, health, and caregiving, and new this year: emergency and disaster preparedness. Some interesting take-aways from this publication: Over the past 10 years, the population age 65 […]
With Hospice CAHPS data, scores decreased on the measure “Willing to recommend this hospice” dropped to 84% in May 2019 from 85% in February 2019. Hospice Compare’s latest update occurred May 23. It gets refreshed quarterly. Hospice CAHPS data were collected from July 1, 2016, through June 30, 2018. Measure May 2019 score February […]
On Friday, December 28, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the “Health Industry Cybersecurity Practices (HICP): Managing Threats and Protecting Patients” publication. The four-volume publication aims to provide voluntary cybersecurity practices to healthcare organizations of all types and sizes, ranging from local clinics to large hospital systems. The industry-led effort was in […]
While the hospice industry is expected to receive about $540 million in increased payments in 2020, hospice providers should curb the enthusiasm until they fully analyze how the changes will impact the business. That’s because the payment rate for the first 60 days of routine home care (RHC) is actually decreasing slightly, according to CMS’ […]
The Department of Labor has published three Notices of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) regarding the minimum salary requirement for an employee to qualify for overtime, which forms of payment can be included and excluded in the “time and one-half” calculation when determining workers’ overtime rates, and clarifications of and revisions to the responsibilities of employers and […]