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| January 25, 2024 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This Week at CT Healthcare At Home
Legislative Update
Source: Connecticut Mirror, Jan. 18, 2024
Protections for home care workers, an improved workforce pipeline for the health care industry, an expansion of Medicaid for people without permanent legal status, and additional services and safeguards across Connecticut’s elder care sector are among the key health care priorities lawmakers will consider during the legislative session beginning next month. The 2024 session will run for just three months, from Feb. 7 to May 8.
Legislative session runs from Feb. 7 to May 8 this year. Budget hearings will be end of February/beginning of March with bills to be heard throughout March.
To prepare our members for public hearings and the testimony process, the Association is once again, hosting a FREE Legislative Advocacy 101 Webinar on Tuesday, Jan. 30 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. News Update
The Department of Public Health Facility, Licensing and Investigations Section (FLIS) has hired Lorraine Cullen as new Branch Chief to lead the DPH team through licensure and regulatory oversight of the state’s facilities and agencies. Lorraine is a Respiratory Therapist by training and has most recently held several regulatory compliance leadership positions at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford.
CAHH President/CEO Tracy Wodatch had the privilege of a brief meeting with Lorraine last week, hoping to find a time soon to introduce her to our membership. Below is a brief bio on Lorrain's background:
Source: NAHC, Jan. 17, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held its most recent Home Health, Hospice and DME Open Door Forum on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024. Below are the home health items that were discussed.
HOME HEALTH VALUE BASED PURCHASING (HHVBP)
CMS announced a new email address for providers to submit questions regarding the HHVBP model. The new address is HHVBPquestions@cms.hhs.gov. Also announced was a new Expanded HHVBP Model Resource Index. The Technical Expert Panel summary report on the expanded HHVBP model has been released. The TEP was convened to provide feedback on the development of refinements to the measures and scoring methodology, for the original Model and for the expanded HHVBP Model.
Source: NAHC, Jan. 18, 2024
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) held its most recent Home Health, Hospice and DME Open Door Forum on Wednesday, Jan. 10. Among the hospice items that were discussed, the next Care Compare refresh will be in February. The Provider Preview reports for this refresh were made available to hospices in their CASPER folders in November 2023.
Source: Home Health Care News, Jan. 9, 2024
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has issued a final rule that will have a significant impact on the test used to determine whether someone is an independent contractor or an employee under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The rule, aimed at addressing the misclassification of workers as independent contractors, could potentially lead to an increase in FLSA violations in home care.
Source: DecisionHealth Staff , Jan. 17, 2024
A supplemental medical review of home health claims found that nearly three out of every four reviewed claims, or 72%, were denied due to errors.
That’s according to Noridian, the Supplemental Medical Review Contractor tasked with post-payment reviews of 2020 claims. The results were published Jan. 16.
Noridian noted that 17% of claims were denied due to no response to the additional documentation request.
Source: DecisionHealth Staff, Jan. 22, 2024
The CDC posted updated FY2024 ICD-10-CM guidelines on Monday, Jan. 22, which included a sequencing update for sepsis due to postprocedural infection.
The guidelines changes will take effect April 1, along with the April coding changes update.
Two codes are being added under sequencing guidance found at I.C.1.d.5.b, Sepsis due to a postprocedural infection, to state: For sepsis following a postprocedural wound (surgical site) infection, a code from T81.41 to T81.43, Infection following a procedure, T81.49, Infection following a procedure, other surgical site, or a code from O86.00 to O86.03, Infection of obstetric surgical wound, or code O86.09, Infection of obstetric surgical wound, other surgical site, that identifies the site of the infection should be sequenced first, if known. Assign an additional code for sepsis following a procedure (T81.44) or sepsis following an obstetrical procedure (O86.04). Use an additional code to identify the infectious agent. If the patient has severe sepsis, the appropriate code from subcategory R65.2 should also be assigned with the additional code(s) for any acute organ dysfunction.
Membership News
Last week began in Boston at our sold out Northeast Home Health Leadership Summit. Leaders from all over the region gathered and discussed serious illness, workplace culture, succession planning, Medicare Advantage, DEI and more! It was great to see our Connecticut members in the audience taking part in these important conversations.
Education
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2024 OASIS Webinar Series
