CMS

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 1, 2017)—The nation’s leading home health organizations, including the Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (Partnership), the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) and ElevatingHOME, commend the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for not finalizing the proposed Home Health Groupings Model (HHGM) in the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HHPPS) Proposed Rule for CY 2018.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 26, 2017)—The Partnership for Quality Home Healthcare (Partnership)—a coalition of home health providers dedicated to improving the integrity, quality and efficiency of home health care for our nation's seniors—today applauded a group of bipartisan U.S.

—Via CMS, WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 25, 2017)—The Qualified Independent Contractor (QIC), C2C Innovative Solutions, Inc., conducts reopenings under the Medicare Appeals Demonstration in Jurisdictions C and D. C2C is sending Reopening Document Request Letters for appeals that are selected for potential reopening as part of the Durable Medical Equipment (DME) formal telephone discussion demonstration.

Medicare and Medicaid Need Innovation
Trump’s HHS seeks to encourage health care competition. (Seema Verma/Wall Street Journal)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 20, 2017)—Today, the CMS Innovation Center (Innovation Center) issued an informal Request for Information (RFI) seeking feedback on a new direction to promote patient-centered care and test market-driven reforms that empower beneficiaries as consumers, provide price transparency, increase choices and competition to drive quality, reduce costs, and improve outcomes.

—Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 18, 2017)—AAHomecare continues to work with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to find immediate solutions for HME providers serving patients in areas affected by Hurricane Irma. In a conversation with CMS today, the agency offered further resources and contact information for providers facing challenges caring for patients.


—Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 11, 2017)—With policy changes on the horizon that could significantly harm Medicare’s home health benefit through significant payment cuts, nearly 150 representatives from home health, hospice and homecare agencies across the country gathered in Washington today to ask lawmakers to support efforts to protect the approximately 3.5 million Medicare beneficiaries who depend on home health.

CMS Expects Few Hospitals to Participate in Readmissions Experiment
Few providers are expected to volunteer for an experiment to help track unplanned readmissions and their causes, even though the pilot is a precursor for a mandatory change in how hospitals are penalized. (Virgil Dickson/Modern Healthcare)

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 7, 2017)—CMS has just released guidance covering replacements for lost/damaged DMEPOS items in the wake of a declared emergency.

—Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 7, 2017)—CMS and AAHomcare are both dedicated to instituting policies that protect beneficiary and supplier communities that have been affected by Hurricane Harvey. Last week, AAHomecare and several members of the Regulatory Council met with CMS regarding emergency and disaster related policies and procedures.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 7, 2017)—Last Friday, AAHomecare chairman Steve Ackerman joined Tom Ryan, Jay Witter and Kim Brummett to present updated findings from our Patient Access Survey to CMS officials. Staff from our survey partner Dobson DaVanzo and counsel Foley & Hoag were also in attendance.

—Via AAHomecare, WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 24, 2017)—While response totals for all three categories in the survey on patient access to HME have significantly surpassed our original targets, the survey remains open for additional participation from HME patients, case managers/discharge planners, as well as providers.

—Via CMS, WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 21, 2017)—Last week, as part of a continuing commitment to greater data transparency, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) unveiled the Hospice Compare website. The site displays information in a ready-to­-use format and provides a snapshot of the quality of care each hospice facility offers to its patients.

NEW YORK (August 17, 2017)—TripleCare, a national provider of telemedicine-based health care services to skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), announced today that the company has been selected to participate in a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) study evaluating the cost effectiveness of telemedicine utilization in SNFs.

—Via AAHomecare—WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 16, 2017)—Last year, CMS finalized the rule to move forward with expanding the prior authorization (PA) program. Although the program has great support from the industry, AAHomecare expressed concern with the lack of physician involvement in the correspondence of the PA decision. Unlike the PMD Demonstration, under the PA expansion, DME MACs cannot automatically communicate with referring physicians on the PA decision.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 16, 2017)—Last month, CMS published the annual Medicare Fee-For-Service Improper Payments Report. CMS reports that for dates of service between July 2014–June 2015, the error rate for DMEPOS was 46 percent, which is an increase of 7 percent from the previous year. For the report, 10,999 DMEPOS claims were reviewed. However, CMS states that the majority of this rate is attributed to insufficient documentation and not due to medical necessity.

—Via CMS—WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 15, 2017)—Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a proposed rule to reduce the number of mandatory geographic areas participating in the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation’s (Innovation Center) Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) model from 67 to 34. In addition, CMS proposes to allow CJR participants in the 33 remaining areas to participate on a voluntary basis.