Harmony Healthcare Newsletter
Consultants for the Long Term Care Industry
MEDICARE, MEDICAID, MDS 3.0, COMPLIANCE, PPS RUGs III and THERAPY OPERATIONS Enhance Quality Patient Care and Increase Reimbursement.
Circulation: 10,300 Long Term Care Professionals
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Increase Your Medicare Part A Reimbursement, Case Mix & Length of Stay!
Prevent Denials....
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Increase Revenue
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Identify Strategies to Provide the Best Care to Your Patients.
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Look for us at These Upcoming Seminars and Trade Shows:
IHCA-Peoria, IL: September 8-11
VHCA-
Richmond, VA: September 16
RI Healthcare Association
September 30
ChemRX- Albany, NY: October 2
AHCA/NCAL- Nashville, TN: October 5-8 |
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| Harmony Employment Connections Corner
Do you have Open Positions you are Looking to Fill?
Are you Actively Looking for a New Position?
Email us to Help You Fill Your Openings or Help You Find an Available Position.
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MDSC Positions Available:
*Boston/North
*Tennessee/South
MDSC Staff Available:
MA * RI * NY * TN * TX
Administrators
Available:
ME * NH * MA
Other Open Positions
*Central MA:
RN LTACH Documentation Specialist
*Colorado/NE: MDSC, RN, LPN & RCS
*Full Time SNF PT Positions Available:
Melrose, MA
Harwich, MA
Brewster, MA
DON
Uxbridge, MA
MMQ Nurse
SNF OT
North of Boston, MA
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Notes from the desk of our CEO Kris Mastrangelo |
Rehab Aides in the SNF setting; A Change in the Ruling?
There has been much industry buzz regarding the use of Rehab Aides and whether CMS published changes to the definition of Rehab Aide utilization during a skilled Medicare Part A stay in the SNF.
The SNF final rule released in 1999 and the RAI User's Manual for the Minimum Data Set Version 2.0, state that the minutes of skilled therapy services provided by aides under line-of sight supervision of the therapist are billable as therapy minutes on that date of service. PT assistants and COTAs are not allowed to supervise aides in the SNF setting for billable minutes to be coded on the MDS.
Currently there have been no changes to the rules governing use of Rehab Aides in the SNF for beneficiaries being covered under Medicare Part A services. CMS has issued manual guidance on the use of aides in the SNF Part A setting, and that guidance can be found in the RAI User's Manual.
Chapter 3, page 3-189 of the RAI Users manual states:
Supervision (Medicare A only):
"Aides cannot independently provide a skilled service. The services of aides performing therapy treatments may only be coded when the services are performed under line of sight supervision by a licensed therapist when allowed by state law. This type of coordination between the licensed therapist and therapy aide under the direct, personal (e.g., line of sight) supervision of the therapist is considered individual therapy for counting minutes. When the therapist starts the session and delegates the performance of the therapy treatment to a therapy aide, while maintaining direct line of sight supervision, the total number of minutes of the therapy session may be coded as therapy minutes."
CMS may further clarify guidance for use of Therapy Aides, based on a brief statement in the Final Rule, released November 27, 2007 and found in the Federal Register (Code of Federal Regulations), CMS, on pg. 178, which states:
"(c) Except as specified in paragraph (c)(1)(ii) of this section, physical therapy, occupational therapy or speech-language pathology services must be furnished-
(1) By qualified physical therapists, physical therapist assistants, occupational therapists, occupational therapy assistants or speech-language pathologists as defined in part 484 of this chapter."
Harmony will continue to update this information as it becomes available.
Thank you for the feedback! Wow! What a great response. Please keep your comments and challenges coming. We will provide answers to your questions via email or you may see your question published in one of our newsletters. Email us, we want to know.
Become RAC-CT certified!
Harmony Healthcare Hosts the AANAC MDS Certification Program in September, 2008.
Join us and Rena Shephard, AANAC founding Chair and Executive Editor, for this 3-day program.
We are now accepting registrations.
Space is limited.
Check out our Education Schedule listed below. |
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HARMONY UNIVERSITY |
September 18, 2008
Therapeutic Handling, Execution and Documention in a SNF
8:30 AM to 3:30 PM EDT
Join our team of speakers for a day dedicated to exploring manual handling techniques for the most challenging patients in the SNF. The course will offer an overview of strategies for enhancing therapy service delivery with emphasis on identifying treatment techniques appropriate for the Medicare Part A and Part B beneficiary.
Course Contents:
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Anatomy Overview/Review
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Upperbody, Trunk, Lower body, Cardiac system and Respiratory System
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Rehab Case Management
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Evaluation, Observation and Assessment
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Therapeutic Techniques
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Maintenance Therapy
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Restorative Nursing
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Range of Motion
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Equipment Options
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Part B Program Development
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Medicare Skilled Guidelines
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Cognitively Impaired Patient
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Goal Setting
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Commonly Denied Treatments
September 25, 2008
MMQ, MDS, PPS: A United Front
8:30 AM to 4:00 PM EDT
This course will offer an overview of clinical reimbursement and regulatory requirements in addition to training on the key core components for MDS, MMQ and PPS. Learn how facility policy, procedures and documentation can be tailored to meet requirements for all three systems.
Course Contents:
September 30 - October 2, 2008
AANAC MDS 3-Day Certification Program
Harmony Healthcare International is pleased to annouce that we will be hosting RENA SHEPHARD, Co-founder of AANAC for the AANAC RAC-CT Certification Program on September 30th, October 1st and October 2nd in our training center in Topsfield, MA.
Please join us for this exciting event.
We are currently accepting registrations.
For inquiries, to Signup for Seminars, Complete list of Seminars or to Request a Brochure Containing a Full Description and Seminar Fees:
Contact Sue at: 1-800-530-4413, Ext. 21
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Sincerely,
Elisa Bovee
Director of Education and Training
Harmony Healthcare
1-800-530-4413 x20 | |
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