OASIS Alert

Industry Notes

Don't expect to have an episode's worth of lag time when switching over to the new prospective payment system case mix grouper. The date you complete the OASIS assessment determines whether you'll receive this year's or next year's PPS payment.

The date you enter in M0090 will set whether the 2011 or 2012 PPS grouper applies to your payment, the National Association for Home Care & Hospice points out in its member newsletter. Under the new PPS case mix system, home health agencies' payments will decrease for high-therapy episodes and increase for no- or low-therapy episodes, among other changes.

The new case mix system also eliminates 401.1 (Benign essential hypertension) and 401.9 (Unspecified essential hypertension) as case mix codes, points out coding expert Lisa Selman-Holman on her blog. That also takes effect based on the M00090 date.

In contrast: The 2.3 percent cut and other rate changes will take effect based on a claim's "through" date, NAHC points out.

Note: See CMS's rate update transmittal at www.cms.gov/transmittals/downloads/R2356CP.pdf. The MLN Matters article is at www.cms.gov/MLNMattersArticles/downloads/MM7657.pdf.

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