Starting in January 2018 agencies will no longer have to use DDE or paper claims submit NOEs but can use what is essentially a specialized electronic claim that can be submitted electronically. This will save our HealthWare Hospice agencies a huge amount of time and we will have our agencies ready for this in Q4 2017 ahead of the 1/2/2018 implementation date.

To be covered by the Medicare hospice benefit, a beneficiary must sign an election statement, indicating their choice of hospice care instead of curative treatment. The hospice notifies the Medicare program that a beneficiary’s election is on file by submitting a Notice of Election (NOE). Until now The NOE is a submitted like a claim. The hospice key-enters the NOE information into the Medicare contractor’s Direct Data Entry (DDE) screens. The NOE processes through Medicare claims systems, which updates beneficiary records and later uses the information to adjudicate hospice claims.