As we approach 2025, the home healthcare industry faces significant changes in payments, compliance, and documentation requirements. This year will likely mark a pivotal point for the industry as it adapts to new challenges and opportunities. We have prepared a quick summary of the key… Read More »Preparing for 2025: Key Updates for Home Health
2024 Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) Now Available The October 2024 Interim Performance Reports (IPRs) for the expanded Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model are now available on the iQIES system. This quarterly report offers crucial information for home health agencies, including: IPRs help agencies monitor… Read More »October 2024 IPRs Out Now; HHVBP Preparations for 2025
On November 1, CMS released the CY 2025 Home Health Payment Final Rule. It includes a permanent adjustment of -1.975% to the base payment rate, which is half the total required adjustment (-3.95%) to counter expected PDGM-related behavior adjustment. The rule also finalizes a 2.7%… Read More »Key Takeaways: CY 2025 Home Health Payment Final Rule
The home health Discharge OASIS plays a crucial role in agencies’ performance scores under Value-Based Purchasing and quality reporting (star ratings) programs, as well as in assessing the impact of patient care services on overall patient recovery. Here are practical tips to ensure accuracy in… Read More »6 Tips for Completing a Discharge OASIS
Section C in the OASIS-E Guidance Manual provides instructions for assessing cognitive function through nine key items. Of these, three items—M1700 (Cognitive Functioning), M1710 (When Confused), and M1720 (When Anxious)—are critical for inclusion or exclusion from many OASIS-based outcome quality measures. Accurate assessment of these… Read More »OASIS Cognitive Items: Reviewing Guidelines and Their Impact
The demand for home and community-based care will grow due to aging baby boomers, elderly preference to age at home, and healthcare cost reduction pressures. Despite growth opportunities, home healthcare providers will face headwinds in 2024, including a persistent labor shortage, heightened competition, reimbursement cuts,… Read More »Industry Trends Shaping Home Health in 2024
The CY 2024 Home Health Final Payment Rule introduces a wave of changes, including updates on the comorbidity adjustments. The final rule reads: “only those subgroups of diagnoses that represent more than 0.1 percent of periods of care and that have at least as high… Read More »Comorbidity Adjustment Changes in 2024
The 2024 Home Health Final Payment Rule, released on November 1, 2023, brings significant changes directly impacting the Value-Based Purchasing (VBP) model in 2025. We have summarized these changes and added some notes about their implications. While VBP generally stays the same in 2024, maintaining… Read More »[CY 2024 Final Rule] Upcoming Changes to HHVBP
Last month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued notifications to home health agencies found to be non-compliant with the Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HHQRP) requirements for the calendar year (CY) 2022. Consequently, these agencies will face a 2% reduction in payment… Read More »Quality Reporting Compliance: What Qualifies as Quality Care Episode?
Conducting the Initial Therapy Evaluation There are two objectives to fulfill when conducting the initial therapy evaluation: 1) emphasize that skilled therapy services are medically necessary, and 2) identify the specific areas to focus on during succeeding patient visits. Obtaining approval from the certifying physician… Read More »Enhancing Home Health Therapy Documentation Practices
