To improve upon the freeze date policy and ensure that Hospice Compare is an accurate and consistent representation of hospice quality, CMS instituted a 4.5 month data correction deadline for public reporting in the FY 2019 Hospice Wage Index and Payment Rate Update and Hospice Quality Reporting Requirements (82 FR 38638-38640). Under this new policy, beginning January 1, 2019, providers will have approximately 4.5 months following the end of each calendar year (CY) quarter to review and correct their HIS records with target dates in that quarter for public reporting. After this 4.5 month data correction deadline has passed, HIS data from that CY quarter will be permanently frozen for the purposes of public reporting. Updates made after the correction deadline will not appear in any subsequent Hospice Compare refresh.

For more information about this policy, please refer to the Public Reporting: Key Dates for Providers webpage  https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/Quality-Initiatives-Patient-Assessment-Instruments/Hospice-Quality-Reporting/Public-Reporting-Key-Dates-for-Providers.html and the new 4.5 Month Data Correction Deadline for Public Reporting Fact Sheet posted in the Downloads section of the page.

From Hospice News Today 02.10.18

PRNewswire (American Academy of PAs)

February 9, 2018

This morning, Congress passed and President Trump signed into law two improvements to Medicare that represent significant victories for PAs and the patients they serve. The first improvement will allow PAs to manage and provide hospice care to terminally-ill Medicare patients; another will allow PAs to supervise cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs under the Medicare program. Specifically, the new law modernizes outdated Medicare law with language specific to PAs in the Medicare Patient Access to Hospice Act. “Literally hundreds of PAs have made the case to members of Congress about the necessity to eliminate the unwarranted restrictions which have prevented PAs from providing hospice care to their Medicare patients. Too many PAs have patients that have been under their care for years who have been forced to choose between continued care and hospice,” said L. Gail Curtis, PA-C, MPAS, DFAAPA, president and chair of AAPA’s Board of Directors. “This new law will empower PAs to offer continuity of care at a time when patients and their families are most vulnerable.”

Schuerman Business Consulting LLC will be exhibiting at the 2018Texas New Mexico Hospice Organization Conference in San Antonio Texas.  Stop by our booth and drop in a card to  “Win a Hospice Helper Wheel” and discuss how SBC can help your agency manage your NOE’s and billing.

https://www.txnmhospice.org/docs/2018TXNMHospiceConvention_FINALBrochure.pdf

Jill Schuerman, Founder and CEO of Schuerman Business Consulting, LLC. will be presenting TNMHO 2018  Annual Meeting on March 2-5^th  in San Antonio, Texas.   The presentation is titled “Hospice Billing-Getting the Best Start to Your Medicare Collections”.

Learn to use the HIQA/HIQH to look for hospice eligibility, benefit period information for

Certifications, and episodes of care information for the new tiered payment system.  Know the difference between a Medicare Replacement HMO and an insurance that creates a potential MSP situation.  Investigate the requirements for submitting the Notice of Election, Notice of Change, and when Notice of Termination/Revocations is needed.  There are times you can get an exception to the 5 day NOE rule, so learn when you can and how to bill for that exception.

Jill Schuerman has over 13 years Hospice Billing experience.  This includes over 5 years as a Central Billing Office Director handling 17 providers, up to 1500 patients in 6 states.

Schuerman Business Consulting, LLC.

PO Box 831176
Richardson,TX 75083-1176

469-931-8151

https://www.txnmhospice.org/docs/2018TXNMHospiceConvention_FINALBrochure.pdf