Acorn’s End Blog

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) held an open door forum for home health care, hospice, and durable medical equipment (DME) on Wednesday, January 20, 2010. Here are the highlights
OASIS-C resources: CMS reminds providers that there are several resources available for staff education, including:
OASIS-C Guidance Manual (September 2009) — http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HomeHealthQualityInits/downloads/HHQIOASIS-CManual200912.zip
OASIS-C National Provider Calls. The transcripts of all three calls are available at — http://www.cms.hhs.gov/HomeHealthQualityInits/02_CMSSponsoredCalls.asp#TopOfPage
OASIS submission and CASPER system: Beginning in late February, CMS will roll out changes in security. CMS is moving from an agency-shared login ID to personal login IDs. Any person responsible for submitting data or accessing reports will need his/her own login ID. CMS will work with small groups of states, completing the rollout in July. Each state’s OASIS Welcome page will post details. For more information, click on — https://www.qtso.com/download/Conversion_Personal_Login_IDs.pdf.
Home health capitalization requirements: CMS is trying to ensure that regional home health intermediaries (RHHI) apply the capitalization requirements consistently. The intermediary will verify that a new agency meets the requirements at the time of application and prior to receiving billing privileges. Find more information on the capitalization requirements in Transmittal 312 at — http://www.cms.hhs.gov/transmittals/downloads/R312PI.pdf.
Agency Sale: Sale of an agency within 36 months of the effective date of Medicare enrollment: Medicare contractors cannot provide information about a change in ownership. The seller must maintain records and the buyer must perform due diligence.
Home Health Advance Beneficiary Notice (HHABN): CMS says that the notice was approved; however, it will be another couple of months before it’s ready.
PSF SAS Data Files Last week, CMS posted the January 2010 quarterly Provider-specific Files (PSF) Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) data files. These files contain information about the facts specific to home health providers that affect computations for the Prospective Payment System (PPS). Download them at —http://www.cms.hhs.gov/ProspMedicareFeeSvcPmtGen/Downloads/hha_sas_psf1001.zip
CMS Updated Pricer: CMS has updated the Home Health PPS Pricer for calendar year 2010. The Pricer makes:
Download the Pricer zip file at — http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PCPricer/Downloads/ZZWeb_HHA1031001.zip. Check out the Pricer Web site at — http://www.cms.hhs.gov/PCPricer/05_HH.asp.

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