Beginning CY 2020, CMS will be implementing the new Patient-Driven Groupings Model (PDGM) which will be the most significant change in how home health providers are reimbursed since the release of PPS in nearly 20 years. For agencies to have a successful transition to PDGM, providers need to start preparing now to get through the hurdles that they are going to be faced with.

While CMS has provided a nicely defined overview, this doesn’t exactly let home health agencies know just what they need to be changing internally to thrive under PDGM. There are several great resources available, most of which are “pay for”, so we wanted to highlight a couple of our favorite free resources.

Educational Webinars

With the removal of the therapy threshold under PDGM and concerns over home health agencies continuing to deliver quality therapy, the American Physical Therapy Association has done a few webinars including a very informative “Challenging the Myths with PDGM and PDPM”. These webinars were recorded and are available with other resources here.

Another great educational resource is with one of our partners, OperaCare. President Michael McGowan, a former State/CMS Region IX OASIS coordinator, along with BSN/RN Kristi Bajer have been running an on-going series of webinars and articles all dedicated to PDGM. Their list includes “5 Changes You Must Make Now” along with a webinar series “PDGM Solved”.

We are excited to announce that we’ll be joining OperaCare on May 1st for Part 4 of PDGM Solved – The Path to Success. You won’t want to miss this webinar as it will be covering some of the requirements your QA department will need to manage in order to thrive under PDGM. Be sure to reserve your spot and register for this free webinar today!

HealthWare’s PDGM Tool 

Prior to the May 1st webinar, HealthWare is also debuting their newest tool that provides agencies invaluable insight into the types of changes they will need to make as we all move rapidly toward PDGM. Watch for details next week!

Windows 7 Support Ends in Less than a Year

As fast as things change with technology in this world, and especially in the healthcare industry, it should come as no surprise that Microsoft has announced that they will be ending support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. That is less than 10 months from now. Microsoft previously extended support by 5 additional years and it seems unlikely that they will extend it again.

While many businesses and end users have already been on Windows 10 1809 (released last fall), Microsoft officially designated this update ready for broad deployment. This announcement coming with the news that Windows 10 1903 will start rolling out April 2019.

We highly recommend that anyone in the healthcare field still using Windows 7 look at updating before support expires to help maintain security and HIPAA compliance. While Microsoft will continue to provide Extended Security Updates, those will come at a charge and this pay for support will also come to an end in three years. There haven’t been any published amounts on just what these updates will cost, but it makes sense to just update to Windows 10 since it has been on the market for nearly four years now and is expected to be around at minimum until 2025, with support of that likely extending several years past that.

Needing help with updating? Your current EHR isn’t running on Windows 10 yet? Our expert team can help. Contact us today.

Two of the most critical tasks for any homecare agency are claims submission and payment processing. Knowing you have a steady revenue stream alleviates a lot of stress, both at the agency level and for your staff. Less stress on your staff means less turnover which in turn eliminates the cost of replacing and training new employees. There are several reasons to consider using an external service for your billing needs. Below are just a few of the key benefits. 

Faster, Cleaner Claims Submission

Outsourcing your billing helps to eliminate many of the frustrations that come with claims processing. Expert billing services can assure an accurate claim is going out, significantly reducing billing and coding errors which results in reimbursement being held up, sometimes as much as two months.

Save Time, Reduce Overhead

The obvious time saver is the time spent on preparing the claims, but in addition to that is the time spent communicating with payers, resubmitting claims, and applying payments. At HealthWare our billing service includes processing electronic payment remittances, as well as paper checks, along with applying any necessary adjustments. Our billing experts will also follow-up on denied claims and handle correcting and resubmitting claims.

Patient Satisfaction

With less stress and less time spent on the entire revenue billing management cycle, your staff will be able to focus on patients and improve patient care and positively impact outcomes. You’ll also gain patient satisfaction with less claim hassles. Patients are dedicated to those agencies that take care of them and alleviate any billing concerns.

HealthWare’s billing services extend to any platform, whether your agency is using HealthWare or another software solution. To find out more about billing or other services HealthWare offers, contact us today.

About HealthWare

HealthWare Corporation has been providing information solutions since 1986, releasing our first Windows based product in 1992. What makes HealthWare unique is that we provide a single vendor solution to home care and hospice agencies that covers most aspects of operating an agency’s business, from financial to clinical to point of care. Because our system provides all the functionality of a Windows and web based environment, we have been able to concentrate on making a system that not only has all of these features but one that is also specifically designed to streamline your processes. For more information, please visit www.healthware.com and request a demo.

HealthWare is excited to announce today our newest integration with OperaCare, whose “Total Quality Management” combines data analytics with change management and streamlines process integration. This prepares home health agencies to succeed in a value-based model. The key factor that makes OperaCare different than other software companies providing a similar tool is that it reorganizes the Quality Assurance and Compliance activities from a reactive 1-2 day process, to a live QA process. It pre-alerts your staff to toxic data patterns, and presents risk mitigation strategies to prevent the transmission of audit triggering data to CMS/MAC Claims review auditors.

HealthWare CEO Jim Voytek comments, “This integration is going to allow for our client’s QA nurses to be able to view side-by-side the QA reports to their OASIS data entry done in HealthWare. What this means is our home health agencies will have more standardized documentation, overall increasing productivity and patient outcomes, while protecting revenues.”

“It’s exciting to work with a group of innovators who are committed and able to guide their clients through every aspect of the Post Acute Reforms mandated by the IMPACT act. This collaboration will produce many success stories,” says OperaCare’s founder and President, Michael McGowan, a former State/CMS Region IX OASIS coordinator.

About OperaCare

OperaCare is led by an experienced State OASIS Coordinator, the company’s mission is to protect HHA provider revenues, enhance business growth, and increase financial stability. For more information, please visit www.operacare.com and request a demo, or contact marketing@operacare.com.

About HealthWare

HealthWare Corporation has been providing information solutions since 1986, releasing our first Windows based product in 1992. What makes HealthWare unique is that we provide a single vendor solution to home care and hospice agencies that covers most aspects of operating an agency’s business, from financial to clinical to point of care. Because our system provides all the functionality of a Windows and web based environment, we have been able to concentrate on making a system that not only has all of these features but one that is also specifically designed to streamline your processes. For more information, please visit www.healthware.com and or contact us today for a demo.