Tag: NPP

CMS Revises Instructions for NPPs Ordering Home Health Services

In the April 27, 2022 Transmittal, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) set out to clarify requirements for NPPs in the Medicare program by adding the following  language from long standing regulations that define non-physician practitioners (NPPs): “Physician assistant means an individual as defined at § 410.74(a) and (c). Clinical nurse specialist means…

Comprehensive Error Rate Testing Review Update

Effective August 11, 2020, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) resumed Comprehensive Error Rate Testing (CERT) program activities that were temporarily suspended in response to the public health emergency (PHE). Specifically, the CERT program resumed sending documentation request letters to and conducting phone calls with providers or suppliers to request medical documentation for…

CMS Answers Key Home Care Questions

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has provided the following responses to several outstanding questions submitted by the National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) . NAHC submitted the questions after receiving requests for clarification on these issues from its membership. Question #1 There is confusion based on the regulations below. Section…

Home Care Thanks Senator Susan Collins

Very few public servants have done as much for home care and the millions of people who depend on it and provide it than Senator Susan Collins of Maine. Senator Collins has been a tireless advocate for the rights of all Americans to enjoy quality health care in the home, putting her in the vanguard…

CMS Addresses Home Health Billing for Non-Physician Practitioners

The recently released  interim final rule allows Nurse Practitioners (NPs), certified Clinical Nurse Specialists (CNSs), and Physician Assistants (PAs) to certify beneficiaries for eligibility under the Medicare home health benefit and oversee their plan of care. This permanent change, which will persist after the end of the Public Health Emergency (PHE), is an implementation of the CARES…

CMS Permits Outpatient Services in the Home

In the most recent COVID-19 Interim Final Rule with Comment (IFC), the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provides flexibility for hospital outpatient departments (HOPD) to provide services to their patients in the  home. During the COVID-19 PHE, a patient’s home may be considered an off-site location of a hospital department and only registered…

CMS Issues New COVID-19 Waivers, Interim Final Rule for Home Health

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a second round of regulatory waivers in an Interim final rule with comment (IFC), with several notable flexibilities for home health agencies. NPPs and Home Health Services The IFC implements section 3708 of the CARES Act to permit nurse practitioners, physician assistants, and certified nurse…

What Has Changed for Home Health During the Public Health Emergency? NAHC has the Answers

On March 30, 2020, the Centers for Medicare &Medicaid Services (CMS) issued an interim final rule with comment (IFC) that  provides relief from regulations governing health care provider operations in response to the COVID -19 pandemic. The National Association for Home Care and Hospice (NAHC) conducted a national webcast presenting the regulatory waivers that had…

NAHC Asks CMS/HHS for Reg Flexibility to Fight COVID-19

The National Association for Home Care & Hospice (NAHC) has made a series of requests to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for regulatory action designed to enable home health and hospice to fulfill its potential as the health care setting most suited to stopping the spread of the novel coronavirus COVID-19 while…

Home Health Care Win on NPP Bill was 13 Years in the Making

Huge win for NAHC advocacy Please join us in thanking Congress! PLEASE DO IT NOW! Following 13 years of intense and constant advocacy, the Home Health Care Planning Improvement Act, popularly known as the NPP bill, was signed into law last week as part of the larger $2 trillion stimulus package, the CARES Act. With…