Home Health & Hospice Week

CAHPS, home care access, OASIS also addressed in latest Open Door Forum. In just a few short weeks, home health agencies will be grappling with major changes in how they deliver and document therapy services. But CMS was nearly silent on the topic in the latest Open Door Forum for home care providers. A host of therapy changes will hit April 1, ranging from functional reassessment visits on the 13th and 19th visits and every 30 days to including objective goals in documentation (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XX, No. 6). The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services didn't have the therapy changes on the agenda for the forum held March 2. CMS officials addressed the topic only briefly, in the caller question-and-answer portion of the call. Responding to a Kaiser Permanente representative, CMS's Lori Anderson clarified that the new therapy assessments and other requirements apply only to fee-for-service beneficiaries, not [...]