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Medicare Compliance & Reimbursement

Hospice Compliance:

Make Sure These Documents Are In Your Nursing Home Patients' Files

Published on Tue Jan 31, 2012

Plus: Help nursing homes use the MDS to identify residents who need hospice services. Federal authorities will be looking closely at how you interact with the nursing homes where your hospice patients reside. Will your practices pass muster? When Miami-based VITAS Healthcare Corp. provides care to hospice patients in a nursing home, it makes sure the nursing home has a copy of the hospice election form, says nurse Cherry Meier, a spokesperson for the organization in Flat Rock, N.C. The form "clearly states that the resident/patient and/or responsible party wants to have palliative rather than curative care," she observes. Remind your nursing home partners that the NOE will help their paperwork. "With the MDS 3.0 focusing on giving the resident a voice, the election form should provide guidance in determining appropriate goals/interventions," Meier says. Also: If the patient has an advance directive, "make sure it is in the chart so [...]
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