6/13/2023 J6/JK Home Health POE Advisory Group Meeting
Meeting Minutes
Meeting Time: 10:00 a.m. ET
Member Attendees: Sherie Adam, Carla Alexander, Jain Arihant, Vickie Brand, Dean Chalios, Vickie Childers, Pat Conole, Vicki Cordi, Craig DeVoe, Carole Holzhauer, Erica Keefe, Brianna Lindell, Mary Lord, JuliAnna Meyer, Colleen Pierro, Mary Jane Ruppert, Lisa Schweitzer, Beth Slepian, Cindy Vanyi, Tracy Wodatch
National Government Services Associates: Charity Bright, Emily Fox-Squairs, Andrea Freibauer, Justin McDowell, Erin Musumeci, Christa Shipman
Agenda
- Welcome
- NGSConnex/PEX Updates
- Completed and Upcoming Education/Advisory Recommendations
- Education Material Review
- Updates/Reminders
I. Welcome
Christa Shipman, NGS
Christa welcomed everyone to the meeting and thanked all the attendees who traveled to be at the meeting in person. Everyone went around the room to introduce themselves. The agenda items were then reviewed and Christa asked everyone to start thinking of new ideas for the ways POE can provide education to reach a broader audience using different media. The meeting was then turned over to Charity Bright to start with NGSConnex Updates.
II. NGSConnex/PEX Updates
Charity Bright/Justin McDowell, NGS
Charity began with reviewing the NGSConnex updates including:
- Streamlined Appeal History screen
- More Notifications added
- Claims ADRs added to ADR Summary
- Hospice NOEs and Benefit Periods split out into different sections
- Home health open periods under Home Health Plan
- New fields added to Eligibility – MSP
Justin talked about Medicare Mobile (Text “News” to 37702) – the newest way to receive updates from NGS – and asked for feedback about how we get information out to our provider community. Justin also talked about the Medicare Blast and Medicare Arcade. He then mentioned the results from a provider survey that went out a few months ago showed providers were really interested in having podcasts on different topics. Justin asked for feedback and content suggestions. There was a lot of great conversation that followed about implementing podcasts as a new way to educate.
Feedback:
- Suggestion to keep podcasts 15-20 minutes and cover pain points such as: Medicare coverage criteria, face-to-face, documentation requirements with examples, Medical Review denials, ask for provider input on the podcast (guests)/pre-submitted emailed questions
- People don’t have time for long, lengthy education, so even 10-minute very specific topics would be great for podcasts – keep them specific, concise, direct
- Include examples of charting for nurses/documenting clinical notes
- Develop several different episodes to cover specific MSP billing scenarios and aspects of billing in general
- More topic ideas: how to go to DDE or NGSConnex, how to read reason codes, examples of documentation and what would/would not meet requirements (and the why’s behind that)
III. Completed and Upcoming Education/Advisory Recommendations
Christa Shipman, NGS
Christa reviewed the education sessions completed since the last POE AG meeting. She has gotten a lot of good participation and feedback from the Coffee Break sessions and will continue to do those twice a month for the next several months. The fact that there is not great participation in most of the webinars, regardless of time of day or day of the week, supports the need for a different path to reach the provider community. The plan for education moving forward is going to focus on developing podcasts, but still offering short education sessions through the end of the year. Christa also reviewed the recommendations members offered during our last meeting and the updates on those suggestions.
IV. Education Material Review
Christa Shipman, NGS
Christa reviewed the education material provided to the members prior to the meeting. When reviewing the NOA and Period of Care billing PPTs, Christa asked if members thought the information within those PPTs would translate well to podcasts or how else the material could be shared.
Feedback:
- Some of the information needs to remain as a webinar or some type of education where providers can see what’s on the screen, especially for newer billers
- Create on-demand videos that will be available on YouTube, and bring those into podcast conversations – also offer links to the video library, education articles, job aids, etc. in the podcast episode notes
- Break education into “series”, e.g., the NOA series can be a podcast, on-demand training video, job aids, and a Coffee Break session which all tie together
- Incorporate games or test your knowledge type questions up front or within/throughout the training to keep people interested and engaged
- Include a transcription of podcasts and web-based on-demand videos
- The Period of Care claim PPT can be broken into “chapters” for on-demand videos – each heading of the Agenda as it is now can be its own chapter to break up the material into manageable times
- Include a chapter on telehealth billing within the period of care billing series
- Create a series on top errors and link it to the billing sessions
Feedback on the Home Health Orders and Multiple Physicians and Allowed Practitioners article:
- The main takeaway from this article should be clear instruction and answer the questions: How should HHAs show the certifying doctor is aware of other orders? Do they need to sign? What is Medicare’s expectation of what needs to be included in the medical record? How do HHAs document and why does it need to be done?
- Include examples of what meets the regulatory requirement
- Include information regarding allowed practitioners and the FTF encounter (Update: There is currently an article on our website addressing allowed NPPs and the FTF: Eligibility Criteria for Face-to-Face Encounters)
- Make sure the article is clear that it’s the responsibility of the HHA to ensure the primary physician is aware of all other orders by other practitioners and HHAs are following their internal processes to do so
Feedback on the HHH TPE ADR Article:;
- Define promptly and appropriately – any general terms used are too vague
- The information is repetitive and needs to be simplified
Feedback on the Advance Beneficiary Notice PPT:
- The background information could be covered in a podcast – “Part One” of the ABN Series and the details of completing the form can be covered as an on-demand video
- Include clear explanation of completing the portion of the form with the option boxes (Blank G on the ABN), especially for the dually eligible beneficiaries
- When reviewing the CMS instructions on the ABN, clearly explain what they mean for the provider
- CMS’ MLN has an ABN tutorial which would be a great start for this education and then tailor the podcasts/on-demand videos to supplement
Feedback about the Eligibility Series PPTs:
- These would be perfect podcast “chapters” and supplemented with on-demand videos
- The information needs to get to bedside clinicians
- Short education videos that providers can use for training would be great
V. Updates/Reminders
All
The group discussed a good time of year to meet in person next year. Emily stated we will definitely have the 2024 schedule out before the end of this year so members have more time to plan for the meetings and travel.
This year’s Summit was also discussed. The Summit will be at the Flamingo (not the Rio) this year, 9/13-15/2023. We only have room for 800 attendees across all three HHH MACs, so we encourage providers to register now. We also talked about the need to fill the vendor hall, so Christa asked if anyone has any suggestions on vendor contacts, email our shared mailbox with contact information.
Members were reminded one last time to send more suggestions for podcast topics, articles, YouTube videos, webinars, etc. to our HHH POE mailbox, NGSHHHPOE@elevancehealth.com.
The next POE AG meeting is on 10/19/2023.
Meeting adjourned