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Home Health & Hospice Week

Follow Contractor's Q Code Advice For Hospice

Published on Tue Jul 06, 2010

Choosing the right Q code for your hospice patient can be tricky. Follow this rule of thumb from Medicare contractor NHIC for determining whether your patient's residence counts as her "home/residence" (Q5001) or under another Q code. "A patient is considered in their home or private residence when they are in a house, townhouse or apartment," NHIC explains in a question and answer set from its June 22 Ask the Contractor Teleconference (ACT). "But when there is staff to assist with a person's needs, it is no longer considered a private residence, but a group home or domiciliary facility." NHIC plans to issue future guidance on how to figure out which code a group home fits into, the contractor says.
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