It's a Brave New Coding World

CMS will release the 2011 home health final rule November 1st. That rule is expected to contain some of the most significant coding changes to hit the home health industry since the 2008 PPS rule. And you only have until January 1, 2011 to comply. Expected changes include Hypertension being taken off the case mix list and other criteria changes in co morbid conditions.

Are Wounds Draining You?

Wound care is one of the most commonly provided services by homecare agencies. It is also one of the most financially draining. In this webinar we discuss the most common types of wounds in home care, explore the disease processes behind these wounds, provide tips for accurately identifying them, and demonstrate how to correctly answer the OASIS items related to these wounds. Proper identification and documentation are key to the treatment, healing, and accurate compensation for services provided.

2011 Homecare Changes: Strategies for the Future

Home Health faces many challenges as a result of the latest refinements to the homecare model. Audit scrutiny from numerous CMS contractors, combined with sweeping modifications identified in the PPS Proposed Rule for 2011, will alter how agencies and clinicians identify and deliver in-home care in the near future. The newely revised concept of qualified care will modify and re-define acceptable protocols for Home Health: reasonable and necessary requirements will be the basis for coverage, and the working definition of how this is applied to care programs will be required for claim approval. In addition, decreases in funding and alterations in case-mix methodology, both seen in the proposed PPS Rule for 2011, will increase the need for escalated clinical control in homecare programming.

Conquering Tough Coding Situations

This course focuses on general coding guidelines, official coding rules, specific coding situations using Appendix D and identifying diagnoses that are frequently coded incorrectly. Get one-on-one interaction and try your hand at practice scenarios to guage your understanding.