IAHHC Reimbursement Committee Meeting

Hospice Committee Meeting

February 24, 2005

Page No. 1

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Hospice Committee Meeting

Thursday, February 24, 2005

The IAHHC Hospice Committee met on this date in the IAHHC offices. Those in attendance were:

Rosanne Bordenkecher called the meeting to order at 10:40 a.m. at Melissa Jeremiah’s request

Minutes from the last meeting were approved with revisions.

EDS: Laura Merkel reported that there is a Spring workshop covering Voids and Replacement (used to be called adjustments).

OMPP UPDATE: Michelle Stein-Ordonez's OMPP Updates

 The system change order that would permit the room and board portion of hospice claims billed under revenue codes 653, 654 and 659 to mass claims adjust similar to nursing home claims is in the testing phase. Production should be soon. Providers should look to upcoming banner pages/newsletter articles for a date that the system change is complete.

 February 9, 2005 Hospice Work Group Meeting Materials were sent the the provider associations and also posted on the IHCP website.

 Providers should review Provider Bulletin BT200502 (February 25, 2005 release date) regarding changes to the spenddown regulations.

 Providers should also review December 2004 Newsletter for workshop dates. One good workshop to attend are the void and replace.

 Michelle responded to a question regarding the Myers and Stauffer requests for plans of care. Myers and Stauffer is the IHCP's agent in performing program integrity reviews for all Medicaid programs including hospice. Hospices are expected to provide documentation as requested by Myers and Stauffer in compliance with the provider agreement. Any further questions or concerns may be directed to Michelle Stein-Ordonez at (317)233-1956.

HEALTH CARE EXCEL:

Question: Is there a different number to call if for home health versus hospice PAs?

Answer: Kim Lasbrook reported that providers calling to discuss PA issues for both home health and hospice call the same number and follow the menu. If the HCE staff answering the questions feel that it is necessary they will forward the call to a supervisor.

Rosanne reported that Jody Thompson is a new supervisor hired by HCE. She will be working for Kim who had been promoted to a Director position. Jody will be supervising both home health and hospice.

Hospice Medicaid Work Group meeting - This meeting was held on February 9, 2005. Rosanne Bordenkecher, attended representing IAHHC. Lana Richmond distributed the response to some questions posed by another organization that represents some of the Hospices in the state. This document will be placed on the web site with the link being sent out to members for their information. Many of the questions were review of information rather than new issues. The hand outs from this meeting were distributed electronically. They will be distributed as an attachment to these minutes.

It was discussed that the purpose of these meetings when they originated was to smooth out issues with the Medicaid Hospice benefit. Since the benefit has been in place for several years and the issues have decreased significantly the need for these meetings has decreased. It was decided that this group would begin meeting 2 times a year and the next meeting would be in October of this year.

General Education Needs:

Hospice 101 education session was again discussed and supported as a needed education topic. Rosanne presented an overview of the HPNA Clinical Review for the Hospice Genrealist RN which will be offered in May at the annual convention. The content of this workshop is clinical in nature and attendees will be eligible for CEUs. Rosanne has become a certified trainer to teach this course.

Melissa Jeremiah stated that she would like to see a program developed which focuses on the basics for a new hospice supervisor/clinical coordinator. Suggested content would be billing issues, regulations, and other operational requirements. It was suggested that Palmetto may be able to provide a basic course which would include some of these items. There was discussion that this might possibly be a topic for regional meetings. No decision was made.

Rosanne described 2 other HPNA courses which IAAHC now owns as a result of train the trainer course she attended. The first is Hospice review for HHA and the second being geared for all hospice disciplines. The second course has two modules and could also be appropriate for a regional meeting.

Volunteer Coordinators Group: Status: This group is scheduled to meet on March 21, 2005, 10:30 to 3:00. Lunch will be provided compliments of IAHHC. A Facilitator for the meeting has stepped forward. The agenda and meeting announcement will go out the wee of March 7, 2005. Mark your calendars and inform your Volunteer Coordinators.

Family Support Services Group: Status: This group is scheduled to meet on March 21, 2005, 10:30 to 3:00. Lunch will be provided compliments of IAHHC. A Facilitator for the meeting has stepped forward. The agenda and meeting announcement will go out the wee of March 7, 2005. Mark your calendars and inform your Volunteer Coordinators

Care Coordinator Group Status: Will meet first quarter on March 8, 2005 from 10:30 to 3:00. Rosanne will lead this meeting. The group will meet in the IAHHC conference room. Anyone who knows of someone who would be willing to facilitate even this one meeting please contact Rosanne at IAHHC office or e-mail her at . One of the primary agenda items will be common sharing of what type of items and services that hospices provide. Scenarios for providing certain treatments such as palliative chemotherapy will also be discussed.

Quality of Life Coordinating Committee: Mary Smith-Healy volunteered to have someone from her agency represent IAHHC on this work group. Rosanne will send her all pertinent information.

Meeting Attendance: Rosanne Bordenkecher surfaced the issue of the low attendance at this meeting. It was suggested that Rosanne stay for the regulatory meeting to see if anyone attends that meeting who has a Hospice and query them as to their interest /obstacles in attending this meeting. The feasibility of changing the meeting frequency to quarterly was suggested. Moving the meeting to different locations around the state was also discussed. The group could be divided into regions with representatives who then meet together every 6 months to share the different perspectives of the regions. It was discussed that querying the members would be helpful. Lack of response to the list serv is an issue. It was decided to utilize the lunch time on the ‘Hospice’ programming day at the Annual Meeting in May to try to solicit member input regarding this committee. Jean MacDonald suggested that the chairs of this committee write a letter to the members identifying why they find this committee to be important to them and invite other members to attend. Rosanne will discuss distribution of this letter with Todd.

There being no further information to discuss the meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m. The next meeting will be held on Thursday, April 28, 2005 at 10:30 am.

Note: This meeting will remain on the fourth Thursday the even months except for the December meeting. It will be on the first Thursday of the month. December 8, 2005