On December 6, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the final version of the OASIS-E instrument on their Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP) website under OASIS Data Sets (see the downloads section at the bottom of the page). To recall,… Read More »Out Now: OASIS-E Final Instrument and Guidance Manual
To gear up for the implementation of the expanded home health value-based purchasing (HHVBP) model in 2023, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has already issued the November 2022 Pre-Implementation Performance Report (PIPR) to all active home health agencies, which is now available… Read More »CMS Issues HHVBP Pre-Implementation Performance Report (PIPR)
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) announced on Monday, November 14, that it would make new updates to Care Compare, the all-in-one search tool for consumers seeking home health, hospice, and other Medicare-reimbursed healthcare services. What’s New? Care Compare will now include new information… Read More »Care Compare Update: New Information On Home Health-Physician Relationships
The October 2022 OASIS Q&As by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been released, which address OASIS questions from their help desks. The new set of Q&As shed light on how to deal with specific OASIS items in complex scenarios including new… Read More »Stay Updated: October 2022 OASIS Q&As
Just recently on Monday, October 31, 2022, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released its FY 2023 home health final payment rule. While it presents particular financial challenges that providers may face in the near future, it has brought better news than… Read More »Key Takeaways: FY 2023 Home Health Final Payment Rule
On top of severe staffing shortages, effective and engaging training programs remain crucial in home health. Despite this, the industry currently faces a growing concern about the lack of engagement in training as it was identified as the number one complaint from staff in 2021.… Read More »Are You Paying Enough Attention to Staff Training?
Amidst the staffing challenges that the industry faces today, training and professional development have become more critical to overall home care operations. However, according to the recent Home Care Staffing and Professional Development Survey 2022, only a little more than half of providers have established… Read More »Industry Insight: Staffing and Professional Development
A Gerontological Society of America study stated that “home health patients are at greatest risk of hospitalizations within the first weeks of home health. Over 25% of hospitalization occurred in the first 6 days and over 50% occurred in the first 2 weeks.” Another study… Read More »The Importance of Therapy Under HHVBP
With the upcoming expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) in 2023, the importance of the Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) program is highlighted even more. Since QAPI is instrumental in improving quality scores, home health agencies must take advantage of it to stay ahead of… Read More »Streamline Your QAPI: Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA)
As the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) transitions to the 2023 ICD-10-CM codes with over 1,000 changes, home health providers need to prepare for increased specificity to be reimbursed for services. The 2023 ICD-10-CM coding changes are effective from October 1, 2022 to… Read More »New 2023 ICD-10 Code Sets: Things to Watch Out for
