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
In the last few years, health equity has been receiving a lot of attention from the government. Medicare-certified home health agencies will be contributing data to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) by 2023 with new OASIS-E items that are “social determinants of… Read More »Preparing for OASIS-E: Health Literacy
While the proposed payment rule is yet to be finalized, home health providers need to familiarize themselves with the impending coding changes and how these will affect Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) calculations. Based on the proposed payment rule, we have made a breakdown of possible… Read More »New Coding Changes from the 2023 Proposed Rule
Along with the outset of Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) in 2023 is the heightened importance of the Quality Assurance Performance Improvement (QAPI) program. QAPI program plays an integral role in HHVBP, which is why it is important for home health agencies to improve and… Read More »Strengthening QAPI for HHVBP
Recent data from a healthcare research and consultancy firm show growth in employment in the home health field. These numbers come after many retired or moved to other healthcare settings during the onset of COVID-19. Based on related data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor… Read More »New Data Show Home Health Jobs Are Increasing
Industry experts believe there will be an increase in audits over the next year, following a slower audit period during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. Audits similar to the ones conducted by unified program integrity contractors (UPICs) hired by the U.S. Centers for Medicare… Read More »Prepare for More Audits Coming
As the demand for home health care increases and Medicare dollars go more into home-based care, it is certain that there will also be higher scrutiny for the quality of care that will be delivered. 2023 is the first full performance year of the expanded… Read More »Stricter Compliance in Home Health: Is Your Agency Ready?
The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission’s (MedPac) July 2022 data revealed that the home health industry gained a more significant share of post-acute care admissions following the COVID-19 pandemic onset. This confirms the assumption that home health agencies were gaining more patient admissions that may have… Read More »Greater Market Share for Home Health: Challenges and Opportunities
