Hospice
With the April 15 tax deadline approaching, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reminds taxpayers there is still time to file their federal income tax return electronically and request direct deposit….
How to Apply for VA Benefits
April 1, 2024PHA frequently hears from members who are supporting veterans who aren’t aware of the benefits they may be eligible for. You can support your patients and their spouses to access…
CMS Proposes 2.6% Pay Raise for Hospices in 2025
April 1, 2024The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have proposed a 2.6% pay raise for hospices in the fiscal year 2025. This increase amounts to $705 million compared to FY…
In a post-acute care outreach email, CMS included that a new page has been added to help hospice providers with correcting demographic data. The page, “How to Update Hospice Demographic Data,”…
There will be a temporary pause in distributing CBRs and PEPPERs as CMS works to improve and update the program and reporting system, effective through the fall of 2024. For…
Aimed at bolstering support for caregivers of veterans, both the VA Caregiver Support Program (CSP) and Building Better Caregivers ®(BBC) have announced meaningful updates. These initiatives underscore the commitment to enhancing support networks and…
CMS Issued Revised Hospice Model Statement
March 18, 2024The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has released an updated Hospice Model Election Statement, dated March 2024. Hospices utilizing the CMS Model Election Statement or incorporating its language into…
Last month, the CMS MLN Connects newsletter clarified “that hospice and skilled nursing facility medical directors and administrators are always considered managing employees for Medicare provider enrollment purposes. You must report all current…
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its enrollment FAQs for marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors. This update includes new resources and provides clarification on supervision…
On Friday, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) issued its March 2024 Report to the Congress: Medicare Payment Policy. As part of its annual report, MedPAC included the following home health and hospice recommendations: As a…
March is Fraud Prevention Month
March 18, 2024March is Fraud Prevention Month. Join PHA in recognizing the importance of combating fraud, waste, and abuse. We’ve compiled a list of tools and resources to assist you in staying…
On March 1, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued Change Request (CR) 13449 to establish and implement a new “stay of enrollment” status for Medicare-enrolled providers in an effort to…
Hospices now have access to additional resources in the Provider Toolkit on the HQRP Requirements and Best Practices page, including three recently added guides: Additionally, CMS has added the Quarterly Q&A…
Last week, the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) announced the discontinuation of the Hospice Benefit Component in the Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model, effective December 31, 2024. This decision comes…
CMS Updates Manuals to Include Marriage and Family Therapists, Mental Health Counselors
March 11, 2024The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has updated its manuals to reflect Medicare coverage and payment for marriage and family therapists (MFTs) and mental health counselors (MHCs) effective…
Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Open Door Forums (ODFs) switched from phone to webinars and now include an online registration process. Last week, CMS shared the…
Senate Bill 1080 sponsored by Sen. Lynda Culver (R- Columbia, Luzerne, Montour, Northumberland, and Snyder) and championed by PHA, was introduced on February 23. Senate Bill 1080 aims to allow Licensed…
February 2024 Refresh Now Live on Hospice Care Compare
February 26, 2024The February 2024 quarterly refresh for the Hospice Quality Reporting Program is now available on Care Compare. Publicly reported hospice quality data, including the Hospice Item Set, CAHPS Survey Family Caregiver…
MLN Matters: Hospices Required to Report All Managing Employees
February 26, 2024The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) recently clarified that hospice medical directors and administrators are always considered managing employees for Medicare provider enrollment purposes. You must report all…
Hospice Preview Reports for the May 2024 Refresh Now Available
February 19, 2024Providers can now access the latest Provider Preview Reports via the Certification and Survey Provider Enhanced Reports (CASPER) application. Once released in CASPER, providers will have 30 days during which…
Notice: Hospice Item Set Manual Update
February 19, 2024The Centers for Medicare & Medicate Services has updated the Hospice Item Set (HIS) Manual to remove COVID-19 public health emergency references, revise the Annual Payment Update (APU) penalty to reflect the…
CMS Fact Sheet: Hospice Comprehensive Assessment Measure
February 19, 2024The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services recently shared a Fact Sheet for the Hospice Comprehensive Assessment Quality Measure. The document provides clarification on the measure and guidance on how to calculate…
2021 Data Now Available for the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Chartbook
February 5, 2024CMS has added the annual update to the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS) Chartbook with data for 2021. The MCBS Chartbook provides the public with an interactive collection of charts and tables…
CGS: Avoid CERT No Documentation Errors
February 5, 2024CGS has identified an increase in the number of Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) reviews that receive No Documentation errors. The CERT Review Contractor assigns the No Documentation error category…
PEPPER Distribution Paused
January 29, 2024The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced a temporary pause in the distribution of the PEPPER (Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report) and CBRs (Comparative Billing Reports)…
In case you missed the announcement, hospices can now take advantage of the Home Care Grant programs! The latest grant expansions, which went into effect on January 1, include the…
Hospice Updates from January Open Door Forum
January 29, 2024Earlier this month, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held an Open Door Forum (ODF) for home health, hospice, and durable medical equipment providers. A summary of the…
Home Health & Hospices: Medicare Credit Balance Reports Due
January 22, 2024As a reminder, the Medicare Credit Balance Report for the quarter ending December 31 is due by January 30, 2024. CGS will suspend all claim payments at 100% if a completed CMS-838…
MedPAC Votes on 2024 Recommendations to Congress
January 22, 2024On January 11, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) unanimously voted to recommend cutting the home health base payment rate by seven percent in CY2025 and freezing the hospice update…
Hospice Self-Determined Aggregate Cap Reminder
January 22, 2024As a reminder, hospices are required to self-calculate and submit their Aggregate Cap Report no later than February 28, 2024. More information, including forms and instructions on where to submit your…
Reminder: Don’t Let Your Agency Credentials Expire!
January 15, 2024Don’t let license and credential expirations put a damper on your 2024 business plans! Take a moment this week to add a calendar reminder OR double check an existing calendar…
The Participation Exemption for Size Form for calendar year (CY) 2024 CAHPS Hospice Survey data collection and reporting requirements is now available. Hospices that served fewer than 50 survey-eligible decedents/caregivers in CY 2023 (January…
The latest quarterly Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) Update was distributed to hospices via email at the end of December. This quarter’s update includes FY 2025 HQRP reporting reminders, upcoming training opportunities,…
The CAHPS Hospice Survey telephone and mail materials from the Quality Assurance Guidelines V10.0 (QAG V10.0) in all approved translations are now available. Survey vendors must use the revised CAHPS Hospice Survey materials beginning…
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Recommends a 7 Percent Home Health Rate Cut
December 18, 2023Last week, MedPAC held their annual December public meeting to discuss payment rate adequacy across Medicare programs. Following are notable data points and recommendations from 2022 home health data: Quality…
Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) Recommendations for Hospice Eliminates Rate Update
December 18, 2023Late last week, the MedPAC held a meeting to discuss their draft recommendations for various Medicare programs for their upcoming annual report to Congress, which will be released in March 2024. The draft…
UPDATE: Changes to the Interstate Nurse Licensure Compact
December 4, 2023The Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) issued an important update to the multistate licensure (MSL) requirements regarding home care and hospice effective November 30, 2023. The Department will no longer require…
CMS Open Door Forum: Key Updates for Home Health & Hospice
December 4, 2023The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held a Home Health, Hospice, and DME Open Door Forum on November 29, 2023. The summary of the Forum applicable to home…
November MedPAC Meeting Highlights Hospice Workplan
November 13, 2023During its November meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) presented its hospice workplan for ongoing and new projects, which include evaluations on: More details on each of these projects are provided below….
On November 1, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued the calendar year (CY) 2024 Home Health Prospective Payment System (HH PPS) Rate Update final rule, which…
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) Releases Hospice Quality Reporting Program Report
November 6, 2023The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid (CMS) has been developing a new Hospice Quality Reporting Program (HQRP) data collection tool – HOPE (Hospice Outcomes & Patient Evaluation). The HOPE is…
On Thursday, October 18, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), issued two resource documents to help explain to patients the…
New VBID Evaluation Report
October 30, 2023Last month, the Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation (CMMI) released the most recent Medicare Advantage (MA) Value-Based Insurance Design (VBID) Model evaluation report. The report highlights participation, flexibilities, and outcomes, as…
On October 11, CMS issued Change Request 13417, which provides instruction to Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) on updated interest rates under the Medicare program. Effective October 17, 2023, CMS has instructed…
Many Redetermination requests submitted through myCGS are dismissed because the form is not completed correctly. Digits of the Internal Control Number (ICN) are transposed, codes and modifiers added to the form are…
Quarterly Medicare Credit Balance Reports Due October 30
October 16, 2023As a reminder, the Medicare Credit Balance Report for the quarter ending September 30 is due by October 30, 2023. CGS will suspend all claim payments at 100% if a completed…
On September 26, 2023, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced the Medicare Advantage (MA) plans that will be participating in the MA Value-Based Insurance Design Model (VBID) during calendar…
CMS Shares MFT & MHC Provider Enrollment FAQs
October 2, 2023CMS posted some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to educate mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists on the CY 2024 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) proposed rule related to the existing enrollment…
FY2024 Hospice Medicare and Medicaid Base Rates
October 2, 2023Beginning October 1, 2023, hospice base payment rates will increase by 3.1 percent, as published in the final FY 2024 Hospice Payment Rule. As is customary, the Medicaid program waits until…
CMS has released an updated version of the 2021 Medicare Post-Acute Care and Hospice Provider Utilization and Payment Public Use File (PAC-PUF). As a reminder, the PAC PUF presents summarized information on services…