Home Health & Hospice PEPPER Available NOW! After an almost three-year hiatus, CMS has relaunched PEPPER for all Medicare provider types. The Home Health and Hospice reports are now available through the PEPPER portal. The Program for Evaluating Payment Patterns Electronic Report (PEPPER) is an Excel file that summarizes specific data drawn directly from billing records to evaluate performance measures and target areas. It highlights outliers that medical reviewers use to determine ...
The Hospice may not allow an aide to provide services to patients independently until the aide has successfully completed competency testing, either at the hospice or at another training facility, and the Hospice has verified successful completion through documentation provided by the applicant or the training facility. Competency testing should include:Communication skills, including the ability to read, write, and verbally report clinical information to patients, representatives, and caregi...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a sweeping nationwide effort to combat fraud in the hospice and home health care industries by imposing a six-month moratorium on new Medicare enrollments for these providers. The policy, which took effect immediately, is intended to stop fraudulent operators from entering the Medicare system while federal investigators strengthen oversight and enforcement efforts. According to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, the agency has un...
Accurate and timely patient assessments are crucial to the development of an effective Plan of Care (POC). These assessments address the physical, psychosocial, emotional, and spiritual needs associated with the patient’s terminal illness to promote well-being, comfort, and dignity throughout the dying process.An initial assessment must be completed by the registered nurse (RN) within 48 hours after the election of hospice care has been completed, unless the physician, patient, or representat...