Regulations:
Study These Therapy Changes Hitting Agencies This April
It's no April Fool's Day joke -- the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services finalized a laundry list of newly "clarified" requirements for home health therapy that will take effect April 1. Opportunity:
The new requirements include:
- therapy goals with objective measurements;
- a functional assessment by the physical therapist and visits on the 13th and 19th visits and every 30 days. In cases where the patient is in a rural area or there are undefined "extenuating circumstances outside the control of the therapist," the assessment may take place in the 11-13 and 17-19 visit ranges, but the extenuating circumstances must be documented;
- assessment of progress toward the goal using the objective measurements;
- items required in assistant notes, including that they not make clinical judgments about progress;
- items required in therapist notes, including justification of why the patient will improve if they haven't yet at reassessment; and
- delineation of a therapy maintenance program and its requirements.
These elements will join the claims reporting of new G codes for assistants which began Jan. 1.
Resource:
2011 Prospective Payment System Final Rule in the Nov. 17 Federal Register at http://edocket.access.gpo.gov/2010/pdf/2010-27778.pdf.