Instead of spending more time doing hands-on patient care, therapists who work with Medicare beneficiaries have been strapped with increased administrative tasks, sometimes leading to delayed services,...
Therapists, take note! Proposed changes to ICD-10 mapping
By
Renee Kinder
May 12, 2022
The buzz around the proposed rule for fiscal 2023 continues as providers aim to review, digest and comment on proposed updates to the SNF payment rates, wage index adjustments, methodology for recalibrating...
How to make your nursing facility RAC-ready
By
Bryan Baird
Nov 08, 2011
As skilled nursing facilities adjust to the changes to Medicare that arrived early last month, they must be ready for Recovery Audit Contractors. RACs are independent auditors for the government that are...
SNF therapy billing controversy rises from the dead
By
Elizabeth Newman
Oct 02, 2015
Despite my love of Halloween, there is one component of it that is distinctly not for me: Horror movies. Still, I’m enough of a pop culture enthusiast that I can appreciate those with an appetite...
You’re probably guilty of too much documentation
By
Shelly Mesure, MS, OTR/L
Jun 18, 2013
Is it time for a diet? Not a food diet, but a documentation diet. I’ve written previous blogs about documentation quick tips, top 10 reasons for denials, and so on. But, how many of you are guilty...
$1.3 million settlement marks second recent deal over SNF supervision of therapy providers
By
Tim Mullaney
Sep 16, 2014
A Maryland nursing home company has agreed to a $1.3 million settlement over charges that it did not prevent overbilling by its contracted therapy provider, federal authorities announced Monday. This is...
Goal: garden variety rehab
By
Elizabeth Newman
Feb 02, 2013
When Grancare Nursing Center owner and administrator Donna Zunker began envisioning a new rehab wing, she wanted more than a new addition.
A good first step but more to do with MDS 3.0
By
Leah Klusch, RN, BSN, FACHCA
Mar 07, 2012
It was a long first day, but there was tremendous value and everyone who is here has learned what the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ positions are with the April updates and some of the...
The Jimmo scorecard and CMS compliance update
By
Steven Littlehale
Nov 25, 2014
In some ways, 2014 has been a monumental year. But it’s not over yet, especially with regard to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services steps regarding the historic Jimmo settlement agreement signed...
Staring into the abyss when the abyss won’t make eye contact
By
Jean Wendland Porter
Oct 28, 2016
In this world of RACs, ADRs, denials and incentivized payback demands, it behooves us as providers to stare back at The Abyss and defy the illogical and irrational edicts of “PLOF” as the determining...