Tip of the Month
Compliance with Nursing Facility Partners
I
t is another new year and compliance in your hospice operations is more important than ever! As the Office of the Inspector General continues its focus on hospice in the nursing home, providers should ensure that all aspects of their partnership with nursing facilities are in order. NHPCO suggests assessment of the following components for optimal compliance: • Ensure that there is a current contract in place that includes the required language from the Medicare Hospice CoPs (§418.112). • Make sure the contract includes the requirement for the nursing facility to conduct a criminal background check for any individual who has direct patient contact or contact with a hospice patient’s clinical record—and conduct a periodic audit to ensure the nursing facility’s compliance. • Audit clinical records of patients receiving hospice in the nursing facility to ensure that required documentation (stated in CoPs at §418.112(e)(3)) is included in the hospice clinical record and in the facility clinical record. • Use NHPCO’s “Hospice in the Facility” audit tool to determine compliance.
Meg Pekarske on Working with Nursing Facilities
Meg Pekarske, JD, co-chair of the Hospice & Palliative Care Legal Service group at the law firm of Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren, provided very practical guidance on how hospices can work more effectively with nursing facilities in the NewsLine article, Putting Yourself in Their Shoes: Fresh Perspective to Improve Your Work with Nursing Homes. While written in August of 2010, it’s still very relevant today. Read the article now.
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http://www.nhpco.org/files/public/regulatory/OIG_Compliance_Table.pdfhttps://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nhpco/newsline_201008/#/0https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/nhpco/newsline_201008/#/0
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of NewsLine - January 2012