CMS has posted CMS Pandemic Plan – v. 3.1 Public Release with an effective date of January 11, 2021. This is a 91-page document. Here’s the Executive Summary: “The COVID-19 pandemic has affected people and industries across the country, exacting a heavy toll on every American. The lives lost and the impact of the economic toll have touched every aspect …
Texas Adopts New COVID-19 Vaccination Data Reporting Emergency Rules for NF and ALF Providers
Effective Jan. 11, HHSC has adopted new COVID-19 vaccination data reporting emergency rules. The rules require nursing facilities and assisted living facilities to accurately report COVID-19 vaccination data for staff and residents to HHSC in the format established by HHSC within 24 hours of completing a round of vaccinations. The data will allow HHSC to accurately track vaccinations of staff …
Renewal of Determination That A Public Health Emergency Exists
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Alex Azar, officially renewed the Public Health Emergency (PHE) for COVID-19, effective January 21, 2021, for an additional 90 days. This renewal happened on Thursday, January 7, 2021. The current PHE declaration was set to expire on January 21, 2021. That expiration date has now been moved to April 21, …
COVID-19 News & Updates
States are working very hard to speed up COVID-19 vaccination rates. Here are some state plans and dashboards you may want to check out and bookmark for future reference: Texas COVID-19 Vaccination Information COVID-19 Vaccination in Texas dashboard Nebraska Nebraska COVID-19 Vaccination dashboard. On this same dashboard, you can access the COVID-19 cases in Nebraska. Click on the yellow navigation …
CMS Unveils 2020 List of Quality and Efficiency Measures Under Consideration
On December 22, 2020, CMS unveiled its list of quality and efficiency measures under consideration – a precursor or first step in the pre-rulemaking process. In that Press Release, CMS revealed the 2020 list, which includes a number of new measures, as well as several updates to modernize or replace existing measures: Five outcome measures (measures that focus on the …
ICD-10-CM Official Guidelines for Coding and Reporting – FY2021
“The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), two departments within the U.S. Federal Government’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provide the following guidelines for coding and reporting using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM). These guidelines should be used as a companion document to the …
Blogs on Holiday Break – We’ll Be Back Soon!
We’re taking a break for the next two (2) weeks but don’t worry, we’re still monitoring all of the news that is important to our readers – that never takes a break. Blog posts will return on January 4, 2021. In the meantime, the Selman-Holman blog is available for you to review current and past posts. You can scroll through …
Recent COVID-19 Updates & Information
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has published an Infection Control Basics and Personal Protective Equipment for Essential Caregivers guide for nursing homes, assisted living facilities, intermediate care facilities, hospices and home and community-based services group homes. This is an 18-page guide with a date of November 9, 2020. Toolkit on State Actions to Mitigate COVID-19 Prevalence in Nursing …
New Codes for COVID-19
In an unprecedented move, the CDC has approved new codes for COVID-19 effective with dates of stay January 1, 2021 or later. Code changes are reserved for October 1 each year with April 1 as a date for emergency changes. April 1, 2020 was the effective date for the U07.1 code for COVID-19. New codes effective January 1 include J12.82, …
NEW: Free PDGM grouper tool from Selman-Holman & SimpleLTC
Our new PDGM grouper allows you to project Health Insurance Prospective Payment System (HIPPS) codes for expected revenue. Now you can easily project a HIPPS code based on the data at the beginning of the billing period, allowing for faster RAP submissions. The dollar amounts will be calculated based on the patient’s zip code. There is an indicator warning when …