Palmetto GBA Releases Q&As on PECOS, Outliers & Other Provider Issues

Palmetto GBA has released a list of questions and answers related to home health providers. The questions were posed by state association executives, including HCAF Executive Director Bobby Lolley, and other stakeholders at Palmetto's Home Health Coalition meeting on June 18 in North Carolina. Question topics include therapy reassessment, PECOS, outlier underpayments, provider enrollment and more. Read More...

Palmetto GBA Announces New Interest Rate for Medicare Overpayments and Underpayments

Medicare Regulation 42 CFR §405.378 provides for the assessment of interest at the higher of the current value of funds rate (1 percent for calendar year 2012) or the private consumer rate as fixed by the Department of the Treasury. The Department of the Treasury has notified the Department of Health and Human Services that the private consumer rate has been changed to 11.0 percent effective July 18, 2012, for Medicare overpayments and underpayments. Read More...

CMS Proposes Care Coordination Payments for Recently Discharged Patients

For the first time, CMS is proposing to pay community physicians for the care required to help a patient transition back to the community following discharge from a hospital, reports The Remington Report. Read More...

How to Conduct an ICD-10 Impact Assessment

Although the final rule on the proposed ICD-10 deadline change has yet to be published, it is important to continue planning for the transition to ICD-10. The switch to the new code set will affect every aspect of how your organization provides care, from registration and referrals, to software/hardware upgrades and clinical documentation. A critical step in planning for the transition is to conduct an impact assessment of how the new code sets will affect your organization. Your impact assessment should include: Read More...

As your state association, HCAF has a responsibility to represent the interests of the Florida home care industry and work for you!

Here are some highlights from our efforts to serve you this past week:

• HCAF staff continued final preparations for the 23rd Annual Conference & Trade Show, which kicks off Sunday in Orlando. Don't miss out on the Florida home care industry's biggest event of the year!

• HCAF's lobbying efforts to expedite a correction of outlier underpayments resulted in CMS releasing an announcement that a correction is expected by the end of the month.

• HCAF's Board of Directors and staff participated in a nationwide call with the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare, which is a coalition made up of the largest home care providers in the country, to hear about a soon-to-be unveiled nationwide advocacy initiative to squelch any efforts of copays for Medicare home health services. 

  The Board will take on the intiative for discussion and consideration at the upcoming Board of Directors meeting.

• HCAF hosted a very successful free webinar event with almost 650 attendees from all across the country. The webinar, "2013 PPS Proposed Rule Review" was presented by Arnie Cisneros and is a pre-cursor to HCAF's monthly interactive webinar forum, Rehab Happenings with Arnie Cisneros, which will launch on July 31.

Nursing Home Costs Grow as Home Care Costs Stay Flat

The cost of living in a long-term care facility increased steadily over the last year while home care costs have stayed flat, a new survey finds. The daily cost for a semi-private skilled nursing facility room grew 3.4% since 2011 to a national median rate of $200 per day, according to a survey conducted by the long-term care insurer Genworth Financial. Read More...

Home-Based Care Teams Offer Help Dementia Patients

A new system of caring for people with dementia in their homes could keep them from having to move into nursing homes and improve their quality of life, new research suggests. The program starts with a home visit by a team made up of a nurse, a psychiatrist and a care coordinator, who acts as team leader. The team determines the person's needs, such as fall-proofing their bathroom or keeping track of their medications, and counsels the person and their caregiver. The care coordinator follows up at least once a month, depending on the person's needs. Read More...

Johns Hopkins' Hospital At Home Program Improves Patient Outcomes While Lowering Costs

Using a Johns Hopkins-developed program that allows medical professionals to provide acute hospital-level care within a patient's home, a New Mexico health system was able to reduce costs by roughly 20 percent and provide equal or better outcomes than hospital inpatients, according to new research. Read More...