Online resource packed with regulatory news and expert guidance, tips & tools pertinent to professionals across the post-acute care continuum.
A Pennsylvania home health agency will pay $66,000 in back wages and an equal amount in liquidated damages to 98 registered nurses and licensed practical nurses after an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor noted a failure to pay overtime wages, including payment for ancillary work and work-related travel, according to a DOL news […]
What will the new normal look like as the pandemic turns a corner? Skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) need to understand how payment was unique during the pandemic and how reimbursement might change moving forward. Understand what your SNF should be prepared for and how to look at the data to determine payment in the future. […]
CMS has increased the Medicare payment rate for administering monoclonal antibodies to treat beneficiaries with COVID-19, continuing coverage under the Medicare Part B COVID-19 vaccine benefit. Beneficiaries pay nothing out of pocket, regardless of where the service is furnished – including in a physician’s office, health care facility or at home, CMS states in the […]
Some agencies are facing new payment issues related to the no-pay RAPs that began January 1, 2021. MACs Palmetto GBA and CGS, collectively responsible for claims in 31 states, have recently alerted agencies to a potential issue where Medicare’s system is sometimes not replacing the placeholder HIPPS code used to match RAPs and final claims. […]
The Medicare Sequester COVID Moratorium Act, H.R. 8840 legislation, was introduced by Reps. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., and David McKinley , R-W.Va., “to extend the suspension of the two percent Medicare sequestration payment reductions through the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE),” according to a December 3, 2020, National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization (NHPCO) press release. […]
CMS issued a final rule that aims to modernize and clarify Medicare physician self-referral law, also called “Stark Law” On November 20. Stark Law was first introduced in 1989, and has not been meaningfully updated since. The law aims to protect patients and nursing home residents from physicians pushing services that are in their own […]
CMS has created a special online resource page for the hospice Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) demo. This page relays key information related to the model, including: an overview, coverage information, participating plans, billing and payment information, outreach and education and frequently asked questions. CMS is testing the inclusion of the Part A Hospice Benefit within […]
CMS has posted a proposed rule for FY 2019. The proposal not only changes payment rates, but also proposes a new case mix grouping called the Patient-Driven Payment Model, or PDPM. This model replaces the RCS-1 that was proposed in May of last year. According to CMS, this new system has 80% fewer groupings and […]
In the past, Medicare contractors have been allowed to deny a claim for inpatient rehab if the required three-hour minimum of direct care mark was missed by mere minutes, even if the additional minutes were made up on a subsequent day. Now, however, due to new guidance released by CMS, this denial trend could change. […]
Source: Home Health Line On Friday, February 9, President Trump signed into law a bill designed to keep the federal government funded through March 23. The bill contains several home health provisions, including revisions to the face-to-face requirement and the addition of a new payment model similar to the Home Health Groupings Model (HHGM). Among […]