Tag: CMS

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services

The Rundown – January 2023

Federal

Apologies for the delay with the January edition of “The Rundown”, but if the federal government could delay swearing in their members, then I can be late with my report. To put it mildly, things got a little crazy since November at the federal level.

Federal Budget

To put it mildly, things got a little crazy since November at the federal level. Let’s start off with the least complicated stuff that happened. In December, the government passed a massive $1.7 trillion omnibus spending bill that would fund the government through September 2023. The spending package includes language that would increase transparency of the payment rate-setting method employed by CMS. We were disappointed that the package does not include language that would suspend the entirety of the behavioral adjustment cut to the CY 2023 home health payment in CMS’s CY 2023 Final Rule. Additional provisions that were included that are noteworthy include:

  • Two-year extension of Medicare telehealth provisions
  • Two-year delay in implementing the Medicare tele-mental health in-person requirement.
  • Paygo waived 2 years (was a 4% Medicare cuts across the board for 2023 and 2024)
  • Rural add on extended at 1% for 1 year for frontier counties
  • Medicaid Money Follows the Person program and spousal improvement protections extended to 2027
  • Modification of the 2023 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule that will increase payments by 2.5% in 2023 and 1.25% in 2024.

Speaker Race

Now to when things got crazy. Like a high school student trying to pass their driving test, it took House Republicans more than just a couple tries to elect a Speaker of the House. For about 4 days the public witness what House Republicans called “debating”, but what I would call the manifestation of a twitter comment section. A Speaker being named was mainly being held up by members of the House Freedom Caucus, who are generally considered the most conservative and farthest-right bloc of the Republican party. The Freedom had an extensive list of demands, such as, restore any member’s ability to make a “Motion to Vacate the Chair” and force a vote on removing the Speaker, and Decline to raise debt ceiling without a plan to cap spending and balance the federal budget in 10 years. Finally, late on Thursday night a final agreement was struck between the outliers and Republican leadership to garner their support and to elect a Rep. McCarthy as Speaker of the House and officially swear in the 117th Congress.

Now that everyone has been sworn in, the 117th Congress will see the Republicans in control of the House and the Democrats with a slim hold on the Senate. This will result in a lot of fanfare, twitter feuds, but very little actual legislative bills passed. As part of the agreement with the Freedom Caucus, McCarthy agreed that the House would not pass any budget that would increase spending and that they would look to reduce spending on any spending that is not defense related. This leaves the prospect of Congress passing any federal legislation requiring CMS to delay or suspend their rate cuts unlikely.  

State Update

New Year, new government! This January, Maura Healey was sworn in as the 73rd Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Healey is the first women to serve as Governor of Massachusetts and the nation’s first openly lesbian governor. Healey, previously the states Attorneys General since 2014, is a moderate Democrat with strong union ties. Healey received and endorsement from multiple union groups, including SEIU1199, who represents over 115,000 health care, higher education, public sector, and building service workers in Massachusetts. During her transition period HCA wrote a memo to Healey’s transition team detailing our legislative priorities for her time as governor.

January also marks the beginning of the 193rd Session of the Massachusetts State Legislature. HCA has been in close contact with state legislative champions to have our key bills refiled by the filing deadline (January 20th). We will be refiling both the Licensure, and Rate Setting bills. HCA will also be holding a Home Care 101 seminar on January 7th with members of the Enough Pay to Stay Coalition. During the seminar, HCA and the EPTS will educate state staffers on the ins and outs of the home care industry and the vital role that home care workers play in Massachusetts’ health care system!

We would also like to set up state legislature visits with agencies. If an agency is willing to have their state representative/senator visit their office/operation, please email me at hcollins@thinkhomecare.org, and I will help to set up the visits.  

The Rundown – December

No Time to Waste! Urge Your Member of Congress to Delay CMS’s 2023 Home Health Rate Cuts

While I usually use the first section to cover federal news, this cannot wait. On October 31, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that will reduce Medicare payments for home health services by $635 million in 2023 and approximately $18 billion over the next decade. It was mandated by Congress in 2018 that CMS develop a payment model that would be “budget neutral”, not one that would reduce funding for home health care by over $18 billion.

Following the release of the final rule, HCA along with the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) re-engaged with the sponsoring offices of The Preserving Access to Home Health Act (S. 4605/H.R. 8581) on refining the legislation to delay CMS from implementing their 2023 home health payment cut for one year, as well as strengthen transparency of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in their rate-setting. Our champions on Capitol Hill are working to substitute this amended language in the negotiations for the year-end package. 

With time running out in the 117th Congress, lawmakers are inching closer to passing a final spending bill to keep the government funded. Home health advocates are pushing hard for a yearlong delay of the 2023 home health payment cut, which would otherwise take effect on January 1, 2023. However, NAHC has informed us that there is significant opposition to delaying these cuts.

We need your help once again and there is no time to spare! 

HCA members sent over 200 emails to members of the Massachusetts delegation urging their support ofS. 4605/H.R. 8581. Your continuous outreach resulted in Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern and helped to persuade CMS from backing off their initially proposed 7% rate cut. We must continue our aggressive outreach in order to persuade Congress to include the revised language in the year-end budget!

Helping out is as easy as clicking on the this ACTION ALERT link, filing in your information which will send a pre-written email to your member of Congress urging them to support a year-long delay (2023) of CMS’s proposed home health rate cut and call for added transparency in CMS rate-setting practices.

It is so easy thatmy 6-month-old golden retriever Daisy was able to do it and she got her nose stuck in a peanut butter jar the other day. I will be sending out numerous reminders to reach out to your member of Congress over the next couple of weeks! You will not be able to escape me as I try to get as many people to help us in our mission to stop CMS. We need you and anyone that you know to reach out!

Federal Recap

Now back to the recap. This edition will be lighter than previous editions due to the holiday season. The time between mid-November and the new year is notoriously slow due to the holiday season, but there is still some stuff I would like to update you all on.

Campaign season has officially come to a close! Ralph Warnock won the Georgia run-off election this week, defeating Republican challenger and self-proclaim Texan (his words) Herschel Walker. Warnock’s win gives Democrats a 1 seat majority in the Senate, wrapping up 2 years of 50-50 split in the Senate. Though this may not seem like a large enough margin to matter, it will have a big impact over the next two years. With a 1 vote majority, Democrats can take much more operational control of the Senate, easing the confirmation of contentious nominees, clearing the way for investigations and availing themselves of breathing room on a variety of matters. Democrats will now hold a one-seat advantage on congressional committees that are now evenly split. This will prevent Republicans from being able to block confirmation nominees while in committee if Democrats are able to hold together on a nominee. The Biden Administration will likely use this opportunity to pack the lower courts with Democratic judges. Many judicial nominees only require a one vote majority to be passed through committee and the Senate. Democrats will still be blocked from passing sweeping legislation in the Senate due to the risk of a filibuster by the Republicans.

Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer both announced that they will be stepping down from their position as Speaker of the House and House Majority Leader respectively. Pelosi and Hoyer’s announcement marks the end of the era for the number 1 and 2 in the Democratic party and will usher in a new era in Democratic politics. Democrats moved quickly to fill their leadership vacancies, electing Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-8) to be party leader, Massachusetts own Katherine Clark (MA-5) to be minority whip (number 2) and Rep. Pete Aguilar (CA-31), to Jeffries current position of Democratic caucus chairman (number 3). Pelosi and Hoyer both stated that they will still serve in the House the remainder of their terms, which I will imagine will result in them still holding puppet power till they retire. The new leadership will have their hands full in the new year when Republicans take over control of the House. Current Republican Leader, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) is expected to be elected Speaker of the House in the new session. McCarthy has already signaled that he plans to make the House into a TV spectacle for the next two years. McCarthy has been setting up a the potential for congressional investigation into the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, which will be sure to make great TV.

Look Ahead

The only thing that we will be looking at in December is a potential year-end budget deal to fund the government for the next year. As I wrote before, it is imperative that you use this ACTION ALERT to urge your member of Congress, for some will be the now immensely powerful Katherine Clark, to urge them to support a year-long delay (2023) of CMS’s proposed home health rate cut and call for added transparency in CMS rate-setting practices. Congress could decide to punt negotiations on a 2023 budget by deciding to pass a continuing resolution (CR), that would fund the government at the current levels for a specific amount of additional time. That amount of time could range from additional month to a full year. CR’s have become common practice over the last decade and will likely be used at some point in this process. It is imperative that we ask that they include in any deal to stop CMS from implementing their rate cuts. Please use the ACTION ALERT to do your part. I am happy to help anyone if they would like to reach out to their member in a different way, whether by phone, fax, hell the pony express! Ill take anything. Your voices matter!

Urge Congress to Reject Cuts Hospice Cap

We are also asking that our Hospice members use this ACTION ALERT to urge their member of Congress to reject a major hospice payment cap cut from being included in any end-of-year legislative package that Congress is currently negotiating. As is often the case with large, year-end spending bills, there are many programs and policies Congress wants to “stuff in” to an omnibus funding package before the close of the year. In order to pay for all these priorities, lawmakers must identify “offsets” to fund them.

A significant reduction of the hospice aggregate cap, as has been recommended by MedPAC in the past, is being considered for one such “offset”. We need your help as hospice leaders to tell Congress that cutting the cap in a major and rushed way is bad policy.

It is imperative that we all do our part to make sure that there are no major hospice payment cap cut included in the end-of-year budget!! 

State Recap/Look Ahead

Just like at the federal level, this edition will be lighter than previous editions due to the holiday season. To quickly cover what has happened since the last rundown, Maura Healey has begun her transition process, naming members of her transition team. This marks what will be a long transition period for the Healey team. Healey is in a rare position as opposed to previous Governor-elects; Healey currently holds high office as the current Massachusetts Attorney General (AG). Healey will not only have to manage taking the reins from Governor Baker, but Healey will also have to manage transitioning her AG office over to AG-elect Andrea Campbell. Many legislators that I have spoken with have pointed out that this is no easy task and will likely result in a slower than usual transition period.

HCA is currently drafting several pieces that we will be sharing with the Healey transition team that clearly states our priorities for her time as Governor. We have also been in constant contact with our state legislative champions to advocate to the Governor-elects team on our behalf.

I will be sure to keep you up to date on any on-going developments as it pertains to the transition from Governor Baker to Governor-elect Healey.

No Time to Waste! Urge Your Member of Congress to Delay CMS’s 2023 Home Health Rate Cuts

On October 31, 2022, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule that will reduce Medicare payments for home health services by $635 million in 2023 and approximately $18 billion over the next decade. It was mandated by Congress in 2018 that CMS develop a payment model that would be “budget neutral”, not one that would reduce funding for home health care by over $18 billion.

Following the release of the final rule, HCA along with the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) re-engaged with the sponsoring offices of The Preserving Access to Home Health Act (S. 4605/H.R. 8581) on refining the legislation to delay CMS from implementing their 2023 home health payment cut for one year, as well as strengthen transparency of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) in their rate-setting. Our champions on Capitol Hill are working to substitute this amended language in the negotiations for the year-end package. 

With time running out in the 117th Congress, lawmakers are inching closer to passing a final spending bill to keep the government funded. Home health advocates are pushing hard for a yearlong delay of the 2023 home health payment cut, which would otherwise take effect on January 1, 2023. However, NAHC has informed us that there is significant opposition to delaying these cuts.

We need your help once again and there is no time to spare! 

HCA members sent over 200 emails to members of the Massachusetts delegation urging their support of The Preserving Access to Home Health Act. Your continuous outreach resulted in Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern and helped to persuade CMS from backing off their initially proposed 7% rate cut. We must continue our aggressive outreach in order to persuade Congress to include the revised language in the year-end budget!

Please use the action alert below to write to your member of Congress urging them to support a year-long delay (2023) of CMS’s proposed home health rate cut and call for added transparency in CMS rate-setting practices.

Advocate On This Issue

Home Care Alliance Signs onto CMS Letter to House and Senate Leadership

The Alliance signed onto an advocacy letter written by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) to House and Senate leadership asking for their support in suspending the implementation of CMS’s final for the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HHPPS).

This week, the Alliance signed onto an advocacy letter written by the National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) to House and Senate leadership asking for their support in suspending the implementation of CMS’s final for the Home Health Prospective Payment System (HHPPS). As a reminder, CMS’s final rule if implemented would reduce Medicare payments for home health services by $635 million in 2023 and trigger an estimated $18 billion in payment reductions over the next decade.

The Alliance joined 49 other home care associations across the nation in signing this letter. The letter highlights the immense impact that the final rule would have on the agency across the country, noting that “the impact of those payment cuts would exacerbate the ongoing dismantling of this essential benefit that serves over 3 million of the most vulnerable Medicare beneficiaries, providing them with exceptional care quality in their own homes, preventing high-cost hospitalizations, and offering an alternative to life-changing institutional care while saving Medicare billions in spending every year.”

NAHC is currently working with key sponsors and co-sponsors of the CMS bill (S.4605/H.R.8581)that was introduced in August, to re-write the bill in response to CMS’s final ruling. The exact details of the revision of the bill have not yet been determined, but once they are the Alliance will re-engage with the Massachusetts delegation to update them on the changes and to garner their support for the new version of the bill. We will also be asking our members to once again reach out to their member of Congress to support the new version of the bill.

The Rundown – October 2022

Federal Recap

Jake Krilovich flew down to D.C. to meet with members of the Massachusetts delegation to gain their support for The Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022, which would delay CMS’s from implementing their proposed 7.69% payment cut, and an additional $2 billion in “clawback” cuts to home healthcare services. We are happy to report that Congressman McGovern will be signing onto the bill, marking the first member of the Massachusetts delegation to co-sponsor the bill. We want to thank everyone who took the time to reach out to their Member of Congress asking for their support of this important bill.

In superficial news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in early September that the House would work to introduce and pass a bill that would place new restrictions on lawmakers stock trading abilities. To absolutely no one’s shock the bill that was introduced received weak support from legislators on both sides of the aisle, killing any prospect of a stock trading bill in the near future. Who would have thought that lawmakers who currently subjected too little to zero oversight/penalties for the stocks they purchase, would be open to more regulations on their actions. Both Republicans and Democrats have been under constant scrutiny over the last couple years for their sometimes-blatant conflict of interest when it comes to buying stocks. As an example, 4 legislators  sold stocks in early 2020 after private briefings on the risks of a coronavirus outbreak in the United States. An analysis by The New York Times showed that from 2019 to 2021, 97 representatives and senators or their immediate family members reported trades of stocks, bonds or other financial assets that could have been influenced by committees they were serving on. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA-7), leading proponent of banning trading by members of Congress called out party leadership for not supporting a stock trading bill more aggressively. Rep. Spanberger called the delay an example of why her party needed new leaders in Congress, branding it “a failure of House leadership.”

“I’m livin’ life, do or die, what can I say I’m 23 now, but will I live to [own a home]? The way things is going, I don’t know”– Coolio (RIP the legend). The Biden administration and legislators have been closing following the Federal Reserve’s (Fed) continuous interest rate hikes, which they say is to combat rising inflation. The Fed raised the federal funds rate again in September by .75 percentage points, bringing the benchmark rate to a range between 3% and 3.25% for the first time since 2008. The increase interest rates have caused the housing and stock market to plummet over the last month, with the S&P tumbling down 9.3% in September and average mortgage rate to sky-rocket over 6%, the highest since 2008. Increased interest and mortgage rates have made the prospect of younger people owning homes a pipe dream with no immediate hope around the corner.

Finally, just before the end of school bell was about to ring, legislators quietly (maybe too quiet) struck an agreement on short-term spending measure before a midnight deadline to avoid a government shutdown. Only 10 Republicans voted in favor of the bill along with all Democratic members of the House. The Senate had approved the measure a day earlier, on September 29. The agreement funds the government through December 16th, when Congress would be hoping to pass an omnibus bill to fund the government for fiscal year 2023. The stopgap measure includes $12.3 billion in emergency economic and military aid for Ukraine, $1 billion in heating assistance for low-income families through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, $20 million for the water crisis in Jackson, Mississippi, billions in disaster aid, and over $112 million for federal court security.

Look-Ahead

“As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize [just the campaigns are left]” – Coolio (couldn’t resist). October marks the final stretch of campaigning for the upcoming midterm elections in November. One more month of having to endure annoying campaign ads during commercials breaks of the Patriots games (is it just me? or is everyone else also getting ads for New Hampshire races). A year ago, experts widely predicting a red wave to crash the elections with Republicans winning both the House and Senate easily, but that is no longer the case. Recent polls have shown that Democrats have scraped their way back in both the House and Senate races. Polls show that Republicans are only slightly favored to take back the House while in a shocking turn of events Democrats are slightly favored to hold control of the Senate (Herschel Walker has some explaining to do to his party). But if 2016 taught us anything it’s that we need to take all polls with a grain of salt. These are only projections; at the end of the day no one really knows what will happen on election day.

We are continuing to focus our attention on CMS’s annual proposed rule for Medicare home health services, that included a proposed 7.69% permanent cut, and an additional $2 billion in “clawback” cuts for CY2023. While we are excited that Congressman McGovern signed on, we need to keep the momentum going. HCA will continue to work with members of the delegation in hopes to get more members to sign on with Congressman McGovern. We need your help to get this bill over the finish line. Power comes in numbers. We are asking everyone to continue to reach out to their member of Congress to urge them to support this bill. Please use this action alert to write to your member of Congress urging them to support the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022.

Lastly, Jerome Powell, Chair of the Fed, signaled the Feds plan to lift interest rates by another 1.25 percentage points before years end, which would bring the federal funds rate to 4.25-4.5% just in time for holiday shopping. Considering the Fed only has two meetings left, that could mean another 75-basis point hike in November followed by a half-point increase in December. Looking even farther into the future, the Fed is bracing to lift rates to 4.5-4.75 percent by next year. Six officials, however, see rates soaring to 4.75-5.0 percent in 2023, which would be the highest since 2007 if it comes to fruition. On Monday the United Nations warned that the Fed and other central banks risk pushing the global economy into recession followed by prolonged stagnation if they keep raising interest rates. The agency estimated that a percentage point rise in the Fed’s key interest rate lowers economic output in other rich countries by 0.5%, and economic output in poor countries by 0.8% over the subsequent three years.

State Recap

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! The Home Care Alliance was quoted in two recent articles that were published by State House News and the Commonwealth about the Enough Pay to Stay legislative add-on rates and the Home Care Alliances fight for better base rates through the upcoming rate review for home health aides. The Home Care Alliance is working tirelessly to grow awareness for the need for a proper rate review and for base rates to be increased to a level that can sustain the industry that allows for providers to meet growing demand for services.

Like the Red Sox, things in Massachusetts State House were mostly quiet in September. State legislators continue their never-ending negotiations on a final economic development bill. the $4 billion package includes amongst other provisions, $1 billion in tax rebates and reforms. Senate budget chief Michael Rodrigues told 1420 WBSM this week. “I do expect we will [be] able to pass an economic development bill in the neighborhood of maybe $2.5 billion,” Rodrigues said, forecasting a bottom line lower than the combined surplus and American Rescue Plan Act spending in the original bill.

Governor Baker has spent the last month on a press tour as he plans to leave office when his current term ends. This past week Baker made his final annual address to the Providers’ Council, highlighting all he has done over the last 8 years. Baker highlighted  the saga he went through as a candidate for governor and then as governor to increase Chapter 257 provider rates. “Chapter 257 was enacted in 2008 and it’s just a bunch of letters and numbers. But it was supposed to be a framework and that framework was supposed to ensure that human service organizations were adequately funded from that point forward. It didn’t get funded in 2009. It didn’t get funded in 2010 — by the way, those of you who have really long memories, when I ran for governor in 2010 I said we would fund Chapter 257,” Baker said. “It didn’t get funded in ’10, it didn’t get funded in ’11, it didn’t get funded in ’12, it didn’t get funded in ’13 and, in fact, by the time we were all running for office in 2014, the provider community was spending precious resources on a lawsuit to force the commonwealth to implement its own statute and live up to the requirements and the commitments that were made in Chapter 257.” By May of 2015, Baker said his administration had struck an agreement with providers that laid out the state’s commitments very specifically. “And that agreement has paid off,” Baker said, adding that his administration has overseen $813 million in incremental rate increase for human service providers through Chapter 257 since 2015.

Last month I reported that the MBTA shut down the orange and green line for a full month, and that I was highly skeptical that it would re-open in a month like they promised. Well I was wrong….. but not fully. Both the orange and green line re-opened a month after closure as promised, but with limited service. And by limited, I really mean limited. As someone who takes the orange line to work. Missing your train means the difference between being on time and being 20 minutes late to work. MBTA is still suffering from massive labor shortage which has caused them to reduce services. MBTA also has not thrown out the possibility of closing other lines for further repairs.  So technically things are better with the T, but I think that just goes to show how bad things have been recently.

A report released on in September by the Massachusetts Health Policy Commission (HPC), an independent state agency charged with monitoring health care spending growth in Massachusetts, showed a surprising drop in health care spending in Massachusetts in 2020 for the first time since implementation of a landmark cost control law in 2012. HPC report shows that from 2019 to 2020, statewide total health care spending per capita fell 2.4 percent, bucking seven straight years of annual growth, while total health care spending per capita also decreased nationally in 2020, but at a smaller drop of 0.3 percent compared to the 2.4 percent drop in Massachusetts. HPC officials contend that this downward trend is only an anomaly and that they do not view the shift as meaningful progress toward containing prices. The spending growth that dominated recent years is “likely to continue” on an upward trajectory in 2021 and beyond, HPC analysts wrote in their report.

Look-Ahead

Just like I reported in my piece last month, everyone will be focusing on the upcoming elections in November. Everyone will be watching the race between Democrat Maura Healey and Republican Geoff Diehl for Governor.

Healey, 51, currently serves as attorney general, a position she’s held since 2014. If elected Healey would be the first woman elected governor in the state’s history. Diehl, 53, is a former state House Representative, who unsuccessfully challenged Senator Elizabeth Warren for her Senate seat in 2018. Originally from Texas, Diehl has the backing of the state Republican party along with Trump’s. Diehl is considered a more moderate alternative for Republican voters in the primary.

With everyone focusing on the upcoming election and the state legislator currently in informal session, I do not expect much action to happen at the state house in October. At most we would see movement on the economic development bill and possibly (I can only hope) the announcement of when sports betting will becoming legal in Massachusetts.  It’s been two months sense a Governor Baker signed a bill allowing for sports better and regulators are yet to come up with a timeline for when legal wagering might start in Massachusetts. In the meantime, everyone will just have to survive on fantasy sports and survival pools.

HCA will continue to closely track bill that are important to our industry, including the Licensure bill (H.4471) and a rate setting bill (S.774). While the chances are low, HCA has been meeting with legislators and their staff to urge them to take up and pass these bills during informal session. We will provide updates on the bills as needed.

Urge Congress to Support the Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022

CMS released their annual proposed rule for Medicare home health services, which includes a proposed reduction to payment rates, and an additional $2 billion in “clawback” cuts to home healthcare services for CY2023.

Please use the action alert below to write to your member of Congress urging them to support The Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022.

In June, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released their annual proposed rule for Medicare home health services, which includes a proposed 7.69% reduction to payment rates, and an additional $2 billion in “clawback” cuts to home healthcare services for CY2023. With home care providers already facing an unprecedented workforce shortage, leading many to turn away patients due to lack of staff, inflation, and exceedingly high gasoline prices, now is not the time to cut payment rates.

In response, lawmakers moved quickly to prevent this proposed rate cut that would have a devastating effect on the industry. In August, bipartisan lawmakers introduced The Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022 (S.4605/H.R.8581). would delay the 7.69% payment cut proposed for 2023, which would total $1.33 billion in 2023 alone. The bill would also block additional cuts of more than $2 billion as soon as 2024 due to an unjustified “clawback” of payments for critical home healthcare services delivered to seniors and people with disabilities during the pandemic. If the rule were to move forward, up to 45% of providers in Massachusetts will have an overall margin below zero. The Preserving Access to Home Health Act would reduce that impact to just 26% of HHAs, saving countless of agencies across the state.

Patients currently face extensive access challenges and the CMS proposed rule will only exasperate the problem. Home health leaders have consistently outlined concerns related to CMS’ methodology in proposing these payment adjustments while also highlighting significant increases in labor and supply costs across the home health community.

Please use the action alert below to write to your member of Congress urging them to support The Preserving Access to Home Health Act of 2022 (S.4605/H.R.8581).

Advocate On This Issue

Alliance Comments to CMS on CY2022 Home Health Rule

To ensure that home health agencies in Massachusetts can provide high-quality care to older adults, the Home Care Alliance of Massachusetts has submitted comments to the federal government regarding the proposed rule for next year’s Medicare home health rates. Our comments to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) address several sections of the proposed rule, including:

  • CMS’s flawed reasoning behind the -4.36% “behavioral adjustment” to the rates;
  • Concerns about a budget neutrality adjustment based on 2020 data skewed by COVID;
  • A market basket adjustment that does not account for ongoing costs related to COVID;
  • Protections for counties with large wage index reductions;
  • Modifications to the Value Based Purchasing model before it is implemented nationwide;
  • Greater flexibility around the five-day deadline to submit the new Notice of Admission;
  • Greater flexibility to allow therapist to conduct initial assessments; and
  • Expanded allowances for virtual aide supervisions.

NGS Resumes Home Health Medical Record Review

NGS will resume medical record review after suspension from Public Health Emergency

National Government Services (NGS) recently contacted Alliance staff to review details for the resumption of medical record reviews. This follows the suspension of the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE) audit because of the Public Health Emergency. We expect that this review will start this week. All the Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will publish information indicating that medical reviews will resume.

NGS has shared some details with Alliance staff about this resumption, which are summarized below; however, the details are not yet posted on their website.

    • NGS will resume post-payment medical reviews. This is different than the TPE program. CMS has not provided any direction to the MACs thus far regarding the resumption of TPE.
    • The post-payment reviews are service-specific (as opposed to provider-specific) and will be a random sample. A service-specific review is one where the MAC is focused on the claim and not the provider.
    • CMS has given a resumption date of August 17, 2020. It is anticipated that providers will begin receiving Additional Documentation Requests (ADRs) once NGS posts more information on their website. NGS indicated it will post a brief description of the service-specific audits on its website and ADRs will be sent approximately 2-3 days after this posting.
    • The timeframe from which NGS will pull claims is January 2019 through February 29, 2020
    • The maximum number of claims to be pulled per provider is 20. There is no minimum. This is less than the total number under the TPE program, and a provider may or may not receive ADRs for a full 20 claims. It is anticipated that the majority of hospice and home health providers will not have this many claims pulled. Any providers having difficulty responding to the ADRs on time should contact NGS and they may be able to work with the provider if the provider makes them aware of the situation.
    • Providers should not wait to receive an ADR request in the mail, but should check the status of their claims processing and identify any with the S B6001 status. These are claims that have had an ADR generated.
    • NGS has 60 days to review the provider’s response to the post-payment ADR. Though providers have 45 days to respond to the ADR, a 30-day response is strongly recommended to ensure that the response is received and recorded by the 45th day.
    • A results letter will be sent after each claim is reviewed.
    • A provider may request education and the NGS may suggest education. Providers are not required to participate in education, although the Alliance strongly recommends it.
    • The error rate (payment error rate or claim error rate) is not as important with a service-specific post-payment review as it is with TPE, since there are no “rounds” in post-payment review as there are with TPE. The MACs are not setting error rate thresholds upon which further NGS action is predicated. As with all medical reviews, if NGS identifies a concern, i.e. a quality concern or indication of potential fraud or abuse, NGS will refer to the appropriate entity (i.e., the appropriate QIO or the division of CMS).
    • NGS will continue to make phone calls to providers for missing documentation or questions about documentation submitted.

It is still possible that providers will receive some other ADRs as part of other review programs such as CERT. CMS contractors, including Unified Program Integrity Contractors, may conduct targeted prepayment and post-payment reviews when there is evidence of potential fraud or gaming. CMS has not yet indicated if the results of the post-payment reviews that are resuming this month would be used for future TPE audits.

If you have any questions, please contact Colleen Bayard at cbayard@thinkhomecare.org.

Colleen’s Corner: Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE)

Did you know that National Government Service (NGS) is focusing one of the home health Targeted Probe and Educate on therapy utilization?

Therapy TPE Audits Lead to Home Health Denials

Did you know that National Government Service (NGS) is focusing one of the home health Targeted Probe and Educate on therapy utilization?

NGS is auditing home health rehab service concentrating on medical necessity, the timeliness of the 30-day reassessments that is performed in conjunction with an ordered therapy service, and the required reassessment content by each rehab discipline. For many of the denials, the reasons stem from the therapist not comparing the present assessment results to prior assessment measurements and failing to document the effectiveness of therapy, or lack thereof, as required by regulation.

It may be beneficial to review with your therapy staff the key components to the therapy reassessment documentation as outlined by CMS.

  • Each rehab discipline must document measurement results of functional reassessment compared to prior measurements
  • Each must also document why therapy should be continued or, if applicable, discontinued
    • Document therapist’s determination of effectiveness of therapy
    • Why therapy is beneficial?
    • Why does the patient need more?
  • Remember the re-assessment is only one component of the home visit; there must be evidence of an ordered intervention as well.
    • Document treatment performed the day of re-assessment
    • Re-assessment without care plan interventions is a not covered service

Be Aware…

If measurement results do not reveal progress toward goals and/or do not indicate that therapy has been effective — then, to continue therapy — there must be consultation with the physician and documentation showing why the therapist and physician determined therapy should be continued.

Don’t forget to confirm continuation of the therapy with the verbal order!

I hope to hear from folks who are experiencing any of these issues with the therapy TPE.

Haunted by TPE? Don’t Let It Frighten You!

Many home health care agencies have contacted me over the past few weeks with questions about the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE). Here are answers to many common questions.

Many home health care agencies (HHAs) have contacted me over the past few weeks with questions about the Targeted Probe and Educate (TPE), so I thought I would review the rules because I am sure others have the same questions. NGS has contacted HCA to let us know that there are new TPE audits in Massachusetts: high therapy utilization, long lengths of stay, documentation supporting homebound for Heart Failure, COPD, Diabetes and Dementia, and medical necessity.

How Will the HHA Be Notified:  Agencies will receive a letter from NGS stating the focus of the targeted probe. Expect to receive between 20–40 ADRs, although every agency targeted so far has received a request for the 40 records. If you are currently in a TPE audit you will not be chosen for another. If for some reason you receive another TPE please contact Colleen Bayard because agencies should only be under one targeted probe and educate for home health at a time.

Additional Documentation Request: The Medicare system will generate ADRs and you have a total of 45 days to respond with the requested medical records. Note: It is best to send in at least 30 -35 days, as NGS considers their time to acknowledge receipt of the documentation into their system as part of the 45-day timeframe. If your ADR is one day late it is considered “no response” and counts as an error.

Calculation: NGS calculates the Percent Error Rate (PER) by taking the dollars Medicare would have paid the HHA versus the dollars denied obtaining a percentage. The PER must be 15 percent or below for the HHA to be released from the next round of TPE.

Results Letter: At the conclusion of a round of review, you will receive a letter outlining the TPE process, the reason for denials including the Medicare regulations, denial rates (PER), release or retention from medical review and offer for one-on-one education information.

Education: Agencies will be notified of one-on-one education between NGS medical reviewers and the provider. It is very important to accept the education from NGS at the end of the audit; accepting the education demonstrates that you are trying to improve documentation and will help with the second round of TPE.

%d bloggers like this: