Home Health Rule – Documentation of Face-to-Face Encounters

May 19, 2011 – The rule requiring physicians and others to document face-to-face encounters when ordering home health services for Medicare patients went into effect on April 1, 2011.  Under the rule, a physician or authorized non-physician practitioner whose patient needs home health services must document a face-to-face visit with the patient within 90 days before the start of services and provide a separate certification that the patient is homebound and needs the care.  For patients who start home health care based on a new condition without having seen a doctor in the past 90 days, the doctor must document a face-to-face visit and certification within 30 days of the onset of care for the services to be covered by Medicare.
 
The rule was to take effect on January 1, 2011, but advocacy efforts by the AMA attempted to persuade CMS to delay enforcement of the regulation for 6 months because they felt CMS had not done enough outreach to physicians affected by this requirement and that home health agencies would start rejecting patients who did not have the appropriate documentation, forcing them into hospitals or nursing homes. 
 
CMS agreed to push the effective date back only 3 months, implementing the rule on April 1, 2011. If you are unfamiliar with the new regulation or want more information, click below to access CMS’ Home Health Agency Center.
 
CMS Home Health

Tags: Coding, Documentation