Home Health & Hospice Week

Tip: Count only visits for direct care.

The feds are holding their ground on the Jan. 1 start date for major changes to hospice billing--but don't abandon all hope.

Stakeholders including the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization, the Visiting Nurse Associations of America and the National Association for Home Care & Hospice met Oct. 2 with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to request an implementation delay until Jan. 1, 2009.

"NHPCO has been working diligently to obtain concessions and delays," Mary Michal, attorney with Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren in Madison, WI, tells Eli.

So far, CMS is saying only that it will address providers' concerns by expanding a Q & A document available at www.cms.hhs.gov/center/hospice.asp.

"We will try our best to address all questions," said CMS' Terry Deutsch at the recent Home Health, DME and Hospice Open Door Forum. Topping the list of concerns is how to define "visit" for around-the-clock care, said Deutsch.

Resource: To see a sample letter you can use to let CMS know that you are concerned about the new reporting requirements, go to www.hpcanys.org/public_policy.asp and selection "Federal Regulation" and then "Sample Letter."