ALEXANDRIA, Va. (March 13, 2020)—A bipartisan coalition in Congress has introduced the Preserving Patient Access to Home Infusion Act, legislation designed to ensure Medicare patients have access to Part B home infusion medications.
CMS
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (March 11, 2020)—The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and the American Association for Home Care (AAHomecare) have separately asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to act quickly on items that will help homecare providers handle the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (March 4, 2020)—Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is announcing several actions aimed at limiting the spread of the Novel Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19). Specifically, CMS is issuing a call to action to health care providers across the country to ensure they are implementing their infection control procedures, which they are required to maintain at all times.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 20, 2020)—As reported last week, the Trump Administration published the HHS Fiscal Year 2021 Budget in Brief which included several proposals related to the home medical equipment industry.
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (February 17, 2020)—The National Home Infusion Association (NHIA) and more than 250 leading patient advocacy organizations, pharmacy groups, physician specialty societies, home infusion providers, and other stakeholders are urging the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to revisit their flawed interpretation of Medicare’s home infusion therapy services benefit.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 17, 2020)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced their strategy to implement the manual complex rehab technology (CRT) provisions that were incorporated in last month’s Omnibus Bill (HR 1865) that passed on Dec. 20, 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 10, 2020)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and the Operational Guide for the Review Choice Demonstration (RCD) to include additional information on how the Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) will affect the demonstration.
Billing for DME following a nursing home stay
WASHINGTON, D.C. (January 8, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is accepting applications for a technical expert panel (TEP) to develop functional outcome quality measures for the home health setting.
The TEP nomination period closes on Jan. 17, 2020.
Project Overview:
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 18, 2019)—Provisions permanently excluding manual complex rehab technology (CRT) wheelchairs from the competitive bidding program have been included in FY 2020 appropriations legislation. The legislation also exempts CRT manual accessories from bidding-derived pricing for an 18-month period, starting Jan. 1, 2020.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 12, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is requesting comments from the public on questions to include in their competitive bidding program survey to stakeholders. CMS is interested in surveying stakeholders such as beneficiaries, contract suppliers and discharge planners to monitor the program in real-time. These comments are due Friday, Dec. 20.
They offer an improved alternative to CMS audit practices
WASHINGTON, D.C. (December 5, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have posted the Notice of Preliminary Bid Evaluation (PBE) and sent emails for all bidders noting whether they have met bidding requirements in areas including PTAN status, surety bond, licensure and accreditation.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 26, 2019)—The National Quality Forum (NQF) recently posted the list of Measures Under Consideration (MUC) for future use in the hospice quality reporting program (HQRP) and the home health quality reporting program (HHQRP). The list is released annually, and there is an opportunity for stakeholder comment. In fact, comments were due Nov. 25, 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 22, 2019)—The Office of Inspector General (OIG) recently conducted an audit of hospice organizations to check on the quality of hospice care and ensure registered nurses were conducting visits every 14 days. Below is a summary of the findings. The full report is found here.
ATLANTA (November 21, 2019)—Trella Health, a source for current and complete post-acute outcomes data and performance analytics, published its most recent Industry Trend Report and released a new quarterly data set. Trella customers now have access to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) claims data through the second quarter of 2019.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 20, 2019)—The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued Change Request (CR) 11527, which includes further updates to the Claims Processing Manual, chapter 10, related to the Patient Driven Groupings Model (PDGM).