Home Health & Hospice Week

PPACA, process measures, CAHPS also discussed in Open Door Forum. Provisions from the health care reform law are worrying home care providers -- especially the upcoming face-to-face physician visit requirements for home health agency and hospice patients. Under a Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) provision, physicians who are certifying patients for home health agency care must have a face-to-face encounter with them. An affiliated non-physician practitioner can also make the faceto- face visit, although the doctor still is required to do the actual cert, noted the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' Randy Throndset in the May 26 Open Door Forum for home care providers. Under another PPACAprovision, physicians must have a face-to-face encounter with patients when recertifying them for hospice eligibility, Throndset pointed out. Again, a related NPP may do the visit, but the physician must certify the patient. In both cases, the law leaves some leeway regarding [...]