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Home Health & Hospice Week

Prospective Payment System:

Get Ready For HHAs'Face To Face Encounters To Limit Bene Access

Published on Tue Oct 19, 2010

New FFE rule’s deadline is rushing up on agencies quickly. Even though the prospective payment system final rule contains some positive changes to the face to face encounter requirement, you can still expect a lot of hardship ahead. The good news: After vociferous protest from the home care industry, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has liberalized the timeframe it will require for the face to face (FFE) encounter taking effect Jan. 1. In its proposed rule in July, CMS called for the FFE to occur 30 days before care starts or two weeks after. Now CMS has relaxed the requirement to 90 days prior to start of care or 30 days after. The three-month timeframe was recommended by “a major association of home care physicians,” CMS notes in the rule published in the Nov. 17 Federal Register. More good news: Other positive changes from the proposed to final [...]
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