{"id":495,"date":"2018-09-20T07:00:50","date_gmt":"2018-09-20T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/?p=495"},"modified":"2018-09-19T15:40:49","modified_gmt":"2018-09-19T15:40:49","slug":"compliance-look-to-these-2-bright-spots-in-final-igs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/20\/compliance-look-to-these-2-bright-spots-in-final-igs\/","title":{"rendered":"Compliance: Look To These 2 Bright Spots In Final IGs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"565\" src=\"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-496\" srcset=\"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance-300x141.jpg 300w, https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance-768x362.jpg 768w, https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance-1024x482.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/Compliance-210x99.jpg 210w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><em><strong>Aides\u2019 med administration, verbal order clarifications welcome.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While there is a lot to be worried about in the newly released final Interpretive Guidelines for the Home Health Conditions of Participation, there are some revisions to welcome, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Check out these IG areas that could make your life easier:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Aides &amp; meds.\u00a0<\/strong>The\u00a0<strong>Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services\u00a0<\/strong>has made a change for the better in the guidelines for 484.80(g)(3)\u00a0<em>The duties of a home health aide include \u2026 (iv) Assistance in administering medications ordinarily self-administered<\/em>, highlights attorney\u00a0<strong>Robert Markette Jr.<\/strong>with\u00a0<strong>Hall Render\u00a0<\/strong>in Indianapolis.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Old:\u00a0<\/strong>The draft IGs said, \u201cSelf-administration of medications means that the patient (or the patient\u2019s caregiver) is able to manage all aspects of taking her or his medication, including safe medication storage, removing the correct dose of medication from the container, taking the medication at the correct time, and knowing how to contact the pharmacy for refills or other questions. Assistance in administering medications in this requirement means that the HH Aide may take only a passive role in this activity. This assistance is limited to getting water or fluids for the patient to take their medication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New:\u00a0<\/strong>Now the final IGs say \u201c\u2018Self-administration of medications\u2019 means that the patient (or the patient\u2019s caregiver, if applicable) is able to manage all aspects of taking her or his medication, including safe medication storage, removing the correct dose of medication from the container, taking the medication at the correct time, and knowing how to contact the pharmacy for refills or other questions. \u2018Assistance in administering medications,\u2019 as referenced in this requirement, means that the HH aide may take only a passive role in this activity. Assistance may include items such as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Bringing a medication to the patient either in a pill organizer or a medication container as requested by the patient or caregiver;<\/li><li>Providing fluids to take with the medication;<\/li><li>Reminding the patient to take a medication;<\/li><li>Applying a topical product, such as a nonprescription cream, to intact skin per home health aide instructions in how to apply it.\u201d<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>This clarification, while not modified as far as HHAs would like, is a very welcome change, Markette judges. \u201cIt\u2019s much better than it was,\u201d he says. \u201cCMS deserves credit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Under the new IGs, aides can do things like open pill bottles for arthritis patients, hand patients their medication organizers, remind patients to take their meds, and apply non-prescription creams, he points out. This is especially important for agencies that serve Medicaid patients in extended care programs, he adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li><strong>Verbal orders &amp; Plan of Care.\u00a0<\/strong>For \u00a7484.60(a)(3)\u00a0<em>All patient care orders, including verbal orders, must be recorded in the plan of care<\/em>, the draft IGs contained no additional guidance.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Now in the final IGs, CMS adds this elaboration under tag G576: \u201cAll patient care orders, including verbal orders are part of the plan of care. The plan should be revised to reflect any verbal order received during the 60 day certification period so that all HHA staff are working from a current plan. It is not necessary for the physician to sign an updated plan of care until the patient is recertified to continue care and the plan of care is updated to reflect all current ongoing orders including any verbal orders received during the 60 day period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cNote: Pulse oximetry is a ubiquitous assessment tool, often used as a part of routine vital signs across health care providers,\u201d the new IG says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI am grateful for the additional guidance, as there were some questions regarding what was meant by \u2018must be recorded in the plan of care,\u2019\u201d notes consultant\u00a0<strong>Pam Warmack\u00a0<\/strong>with\u00a0<strong>Clinic Connections\u00a0<\/strong>in Ruston, Louisiana. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know the timeframe they were expecting for that to happen.\u00a0New\u00a0guidance is appreciated.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.supercoder.com\/coding-newsletters\/my-homecare-week-alert\/medical-review-heres-how-rac-reimbursement-works-and-affects-you-156735-article\"><em>Source- SuperCoder<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Aides\u2019 med administration, verbal order clarifications welcome. While there is a lot to be worried about in the newly released final Interpretive Guidelines for the Home Health Conditions of Participation, &hellip; <a class=\"readmore\" href=\"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/2018\/09\/20\/compliance-look-to-these-2-bright-spots-in-final-igs\/\">Continue Reading &rarr;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":496,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[11,12,13,14],"class_list":["post-495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-compliance","tag-home-care","tag-hospice","tag-ltc","tag-snf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=495"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":497,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/495\/revisions\/497"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/advantagehcconsulting.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}