Tuesday, October 6, 2015

Home Health Value Based Purchasing Model Demonstration Starts January 1, 2016 - 9/3/2015

The Home Health Value Based Purchasing (HHVP) Model Demonstration will begin on January 1, 2016 in nine states.  The state are Massachusetts, Maryland, North Carolina, Florida, Washington, Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, and Tennessee.  This demonstration will require all Medicare certified home health agencies in those nine states to participate.  Unfortunately agencies in those states are really participating in the program now, because the base year for the HHVP is 2015.  This will be one of the largest changes ever for home health agency Medicare payments.

Medpac the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission issued comments on August 18, 2015 on the HHVP.  Medpac has been historically critical of home health.  They constantly seem to look for deeper cuts in Medicare reimbursement for home health.  This report actually states it believe that CMS has gone too far on the number of measures in the HHVP.  They recommend CMS reduce the number of measures.  They also would like CMS to focus more on actual scores and focus less on improvement.

The final rules are due to be reported by October 31, 2015.  This may have some changes to the HHVP.  This will only provide a 60 day notice to the home health agencies in the nine states that are required to participate in the program.  We have decided to hold two one day seminars titled “Winning Strategies – Home Health Value Based Payments”.  This seminar will be held on November 10th in Louisville, KY and November 17th in Orlando, FL.  We will discuss the final rules and their impact on the home health value based purchasing model, How to succeed under HHVP, Review the final home health rules and rates for 2016, and SMART marketing to grow and prosper.  We hope to see you at one of the seminars.



To view the Medpac Report go to:


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