When you own a home health agency, your primary focus is on providing the best care possible for your patients, as it should be. But the simple fact is that you also have to give adequate attention to the business details, too. From marketing to housekeeping, there are so many particulars. One area that requires careful attention to detail is billing and collections.

Whether your agency provides nursing care, therapy services or a combination of those skilled services, you must have the financial resources to hire, train and maintain the healthcare professionals to fulfill those duties. Without a steady cash flow, you cannot have an agency that runs well and has the resources to extend the level of care your patients deserve and that we know you want to provide.

The solution most agencies turn to is obvious: someone is responsible for billing and collections. The problem, however, is that a high volume of your billing and collections is most likely linked to Medicare.

Billing requirements, codes, regulations and documentation are all constantly changing, especially with Medicare claims. It can be challenging to keep up with all of the changes and keep up with the other tasks at hand. Another consideration is that the Home Health Value-Based Purchasing (HHVBP) Model, tied directly to Medicare, goes into full effect on January 1, 2023.

Let us offer a specialized solution: outsource your medical billing to Dominion Revenue Solutions. Here are some ways we can help you optimize your personnel and resources:

• Outsourcing means your staff can focus on patient care, no matter their role, from the intake of information at the very beginning to the completion of an episode. This will improve quality of care.
• Our staff keeps up with the latest changes in medical coding and regulations that affect your healthcare facility. We will put our extensive knowledge to work for you.
• Our seamless process can cut down on rejected claims, speed up reimbursement and increase cash flow.
• Your staff can make sure you are ready for the implementation of the HHVBP Model.

Consistently maintaining the highest level of care is already your goal. It will become even more important when the HHVBP Model goes into full effect:

“Under the expanded HHVBP Model, HHAs receive adjustments to their Medicare fee-for-service payments based on their performance against a set of quality measures, relative to their peers’ performance. Performance on these quality measures in a specified year (performance year) impacts payment adjustments in a later year (payment year).

Data from Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS), completed Home Health Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HHCAHPS) surveys and, claims-based measures are used to calculate HHAs’ performance. In a payment year, an applicable percent ranging from -5% to 5% is applied toward Medicare fee-for-service payments.”

With the implementation of this model, reporting and documentation will be more important than ever before. And those tasks are already time-consuming. However, since Medicare reimbursements will now be tied to the required data, careful attention to detail should be a priority.

You can find more information on what to expect with HHVBP here. If you are a non-acute healthcare provider, let us focus on your medical billing and collections services while you focus on making sure you are ready for the transition to the HHVBP model.