Physician Face to Face Encounter Update

The Home Care Alliance wrote an article in the Massachusetts Medical Society’s newsletter in an effort to further educate physicians on the CMS face-to-face encounter requirement. The article was written at the beginning of the year and published in the February edition of “Vital Signs,” the MMS newsletter, although much has happened since then.

With one month left until the April 1st enforcement deadline, the Alliance continues to provide updates as they become available. To that end, some new important Q&A’s have been posted on the CMS website, which are available here.

A few of the new Q&A’s are listed below:

• Is the face-to-face encounter requirement effective only for patients admitted to home health (i.e. have a new start of care) January 1st, 2011 and later?

• Do both the plan of care and the certification have to be signed by the same physician?

• The final rule references homebound status and skilled need.  Is the documentation of the clinical findings from the face-to-face encounter sufficient?

Return to www.thinkhomecare.org.