When it comes to the Conditions of Participation for both home health care and hospice, there are different sources for this information. Organizations often search the State Operations Manual (SOM) for CoPs. However, it’s important to remember that this document is a guide for state surveyors and doesn’t contain other information such as Conditions for…
Tag: regulations
COVID-19 Regulatory Changes
Recently, changes have occurred in the COVID-19 government mandates. Only two vaccine mandates are currently in effect, but the changes have caused much confusion. Adding to that, half of the nation’s states have current litigation pending and will not have surveyor enforcement of the CMS vaccine mandate. It’s enough to make your head spin! Things…
Home Health Final Rule
The home health final rule from CMS is expected to be released today. Will it be full of tricks or treats for the home health industry? No one knows for sure. The expected treats are increases in the payment for agencies who submit quality data. CMS is also establishing a permanent rule in which certain…
COVID-19 Compliance
Much confusion and angst has been brought about in the recent announcement of President Biden’s new COVID mandate. This along with changes to the OSHA ETS have left many home health and hospice providers wondering what to do. First of all, neither of these new regulations have been implemented yet—so take a deep breath. The…
Hospice Final Rule
The hospice final rule for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 was issued on July 29th. This 226 page document–CMS-1745-F–addresses a number of changes including the hospice wage index, payment rates, and aggregate cap amount for FY 2022. Specifically, hospices who submit quality data will receive a 2% raise in payment rates. Hospices who do not submit…
Home Health RCD Top 5 Non-Affirmation and Claim Denial Reasons
Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) did not add any new requirements, but home health agencies are still struggling with the Face-to-Face (F2F) and getting an affirmation. Agencies need to remember that the F2F documentation must be “related” to the primary diagnosis (the primary reason for home care) and must be timely. This means that the encounter…
