INDUSTRY NEWS
Home Health Care News
Home Health Care industry is vigorously protesting the launch of a new demonstration project that would require home health claims to be reviewed prior to payment or face penalties. CMS says it has chosen states based on “known areas of fraudulent behavior.” Illinois and Ohio are slated to be included in the demonstration, Indiana is not.
More information about the project can be accessed here.
Protect yourself – Learn about Medicare Replacement Cards
Scammers are taking advantage of the federal government plan to replace your current Medicare card with one that no longer includes your social security number or other personal information. Your new card will have a Medicare number that is unique to you, instead of your Social Security Number.
Medicare is planning to send the new cards by April of 2019. Here is what you should know to protect yourself!
- Scam artists might try to get personal information by contacting you about the card.
- There is no charge to get the new card.
- Medicare will send the new card automatically. Use your current card until the new one arrives.
- Not all the cards will be mailed at the same time. Your card may arrive at a different time than your friend or neighbor’s.
- If someone calls you uninvited and asks for your Medicare number or other personal information, hang up and call 1-800-MEDICARE.
You can sign up for an email alert on Medicare’s new card page about when the card is in the mail. If you need to update your address, you can call 1-800-772-1213 or use your online my Social Security account.
Indiana General Assembly in Action
The Indiana General Assembly has begun the 2018 legislative session and is already off to a fast start to complete their business for the year by March 14. You can monitor bills or watch the General Assembly in action here.
In addition to SB 421, here is a list of topics we expect will be discussed during the short legislative session.
- QMAs and Insulin Injections – Although no language has been introduced, there is discussion about allowing QMAs to do injectable insulin. If you’d like to learn more, this article (link to 2014-The Gereontologist) reviews a small study that found no quality issues with QMAs being allowed to do injections in a SNF setting.
- Certificate of Need – The SNF building moratorium is set to expire July 1, 2019. Sen. Ryan Mishler- R, Breman, has filed SB 190 to initiate a new concept for dealing with adding new nursing home beds in Indiana.
- Physician Orders for Scope of Treatment (POST) – Chair of the House Public Health Committee has authored HB 1119 that will add licensed dentists, home health aides, and physician assistants to the definition of “health care provider” for purposes of a POST form. It will also for the first time establish a priority order for who may provide consent if an adult is incapable of providing consent to health care with a few exceptions.
- Influenza Information to Residents – Operators of housing with services establishments would have to provide residents with information about flu and flu vaccine under HB 1058 authored by Representative Bacon.
- FSSA matters – Current law says the ombudsman reports the result of a complaint investigation to the complainant. SB 363 would require the consent of the resident or his/her legal representative before disclosing results of an investigation. It also corrects some outdated references and language in current law.
CMS Approved Medicare Rate Increase
CMS approved a 2.4% Medicare rate increase for skilled nursing (an additional $850 Million) for the 2019 fiscal year. In addition they unveiled another new resident classification system that brings some “major simplifications” to the previously announced RCS-1 system.
Access McKnight’s full report here.
Training Curriculum: Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
HRSA has released a Training Curriculum: Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias. With 16 core modules and four supplemental training modules for the primary care workforce, it is designed to help providers address caregiver needs as well as gain an understanding about dementia care.
If your responsibilities include staff training, check out these modules, you may be able to use all or some of them.
Mainstream retools, says old strategy ‘broke down.’
For more than a decade, Zeke Turner built a reputation as a whirling dervish in the nursing-home business, building scores of senior-care facilities and vowing to shake up an industry he said had become tired and complacent.
