Home Health Practice Resource Links

Providing home health physical therapy as a clinician, manager or as an administrator requires knowledge and awareness of regulations and staying abreast of changes in home health. The Home Health practice link is a resource for the commonly used websites for Center for Medicare and Medicate services, accrediting organizations, national and state organizations and the practice standards in home health. Topics covered in the websites are related to the home health conditions of participation for Medicare or Medicaid programs, quality program, billing, compliance, patient satisfaction and more.   

1. Home Health Quality Reporting Program

Click here for the details on home health quality measures as designated by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This website links related to;

  • Home Health QRP Spotlight and Announcements
    The page provides recent news and updates pertinent to the Home Health Quality Reporting Program. It includes announcements about posting resource guides and fact sheets, the availability of Q&A documents, and information about Home Health Compare, among other notifications. 

  • Home Health Quality Reporting Requirements

  • Care Compare
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has built the Care Compare website as a key tool to help consumers choose a home health care provider. It's designed to be an easy-to-access, convenient official source of information about provider quality. Care Compare provides tools like “star ratings" that summarize some of the current health care provider performance measures. The star ratings offer consumers another tool to help them make health care decisions.  

  • OASIS User Manuals

  • Final OASIS-E Manual 
  • Home Health Quality Reporting Training
    The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has many sources of information about Home Health Quality Reporting Program (HH QRP) for stakeholders including:
    • Training Materials
    • Training Q&As
    • Special Open Door Forum (SODF) Presentations 

  • QIES Technical Support Office
    The purpose of web site is to display technical information related to OASIS data set for use in Home Health Agencies (HHAs). This website contains material on software, reference material and training for how to upload OASIS and how to run reports.  

2. Home Health Conditions of Participation

Medicare and Medicaid Program: Conditions of Participation for Home Health Agencies

3. Medicare Benefit Policy Manual (Chapter 7) 

Home Health Services 

4. Find Your OASIS Coordinator

OASIS Automation Coordinators assist home health agencies with:

  • Facilitating the initial transmission of test data for new HHAs.
  • Providing ongoing technical assistance to HHA providers on the transmission of OASIS data. 

5. Home Health Value Based Purchasing Model

This page provides information, resources, and technical assistance to support implementation of the expanded HHVBP Model. The expanded HHVBP Model began on January 1, 2022 and includes Medicare-certified HHAs in all fifty (50) states, District of Columbia, and the U.S. territories. Calendar Year (CY) 2022 was the pre-implementation year. This website has information on the expanded HHVBP Measures, categories and resources such as webinars on this topic. 

6. Home Health CAHPS (HHCAHPS)

The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CAHPS) Home Health Care Survey, referred to as the "Home Health Care CAHPS Survey" or "HHCAHPS," is designed to measure the experiences of people receiving home health care from Medicare-certified home health agencies. Beginning in 2012, the survey results have been publicly reported.  HHCAHPS data results are posted on Care Compare website

Of the 25 core questions, 17 core questions are grouped into three survey “composites” or groupings of like topics, for the purpose of public reporting.  The three composites that are publicly reported are “Care of Patients”, “Communications between Providers and Patients”, and “Specific Care Issues”.  The results of two global or overall measures (questions) called “Overall Rating of the Home Health Agency” and “Would You Recommend this Agency to Family and Friends” are also reported.

Home Health care CHAPS Survey Official Website

7. Home Health Agency Billing

Medicare Claims Processing Manual Chapter 10

8. CMS Manuals

Home Health Manual is no longer printed, but available online.

9. CMS

Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services 

10. MedPAC

MedPAC Postacute Care (PAC) includes rehabilitation or palliative services that beneficiaries receive after, or in some cases instead of, a stay in an acute care hospital. Depending on the intensity of care the patient requires, treatment may include a stay in a facility, ongoing outpatient therapy, or care provided at home. The Commission analyzes trends in care and spending in PAC settings and makes recommendations to the Congress and the Secretary of Health and Human Services. It is a great way to hear what might happen in the future.  

11. Office of Inspector General (OIG)

The OIG's provider compliance training initiative is an outgrowth of the HHS/DOJ Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team's ("HEAT") efforts.

  • Get the Facts. Understand the law and the consequences of violating it.
  • Make a Plan. Cultivate a culture of compliance within your health care organization.
  • Know Where To Go. 
    Learn what to do when a compliance issue arises. Training resources resulting from the work of the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), an HHS/DOJ initiative. 

Links for videos and resources from OIG site are listed below:

12. Medical Review of Home Health Services

Medicare Program Integrity Manual, Chapter 6

13. Advance Beneficiary Notice of Noncoverage (ABN)

Medicare Part A and B services Booklet from the Medicare Learning Network [June 2022]

14. Notice of Medicare Non Coverage (NOMNC)

Home Health Agencies are required to provide a Notice of Medicare Non-Coverage (NOMNC) to beneficiaries when their Medicare covered service(s) are ending.  The NOMNC informs beneficiaries on how to request an expedited determination from their Beneficiary and Family Centered Care Quality Improvement Organization (BFCC-QIO) and gives beneficiaries the opportunity to request an expedited determination from a BFCC-QIO. This website has NOMNC/ABN and HHCCN forms.

 


APTA

Please note that you may be prompted to login to the APTA site before you can access some of the documents below.

  • Patient Care
    APTA has patient care resources to help in your daily practice including evidence-based practice resources.
  • Ethics and Professionalism
    This website has the standards for ethics and professionalism in physical therapy are established by the following APTA policies:
    • Code of Ethics for the Physical Therapist.
    • Standards of Ethical Conduct for the PTA.
    • Core Values for the PT and PTA.
    • Standards of Practice for Physical Therapy.

 

 


OTHER ORGANIZATIONS OR RESOURCES OF INTEREST