Rehab Continuum Report 2003-06-01

Outpatient therapy cap: The wolf may actually be at the door come July 1

It may be tempting to brush off the latest warning that the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will begin enforcing the $1,590 annual cap on outpatient rehabilitation therapy starting July 1.

Get ready for therapy cap

Experts Peter Clendenin, Tracy Gregg, Dave Mason, and Christina Metzler give the following advice on getting your facility ready for the outpatient therapy cap, which is slated to go into effect July 1.

Think you’re exempt from the therapy cap?

Heres an issue you may not have considered amid all the headaches of Medicares pending $1,590 outpatient therapy cap.

CMS not convinced 75% rule should be changed

It makes sense to the rehab field that the 75% rule for qualification as an inpatient rehabilitation facility should be changed.

Reporting innovations make PPS manageable

Many rehab units have found that the inpatient prospective payment system (PPS) has either improved their bottom line or left it alone. But such programs tend to have a case mix that runs toward the average.

CMS issues HIPAA checklist for providers

The Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a checklist to help health care providers who do business electronically and their business partners to comply with the administrative simplification requirements of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Encryption for HIPAA not necessarily a given

Medical Banking Project founder John Casillas says one of the changes in the final Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) security rule eliminated any requirement to encrypt electronically transmitted protected health information, even over the Internet or other open networks.

OSHA warning letters double for hospitals

More hospitals than ever have received warning letters from the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) because they have lost-time injury and illness rates that are twice the national average for all industry.

Simple PUSH spells improved senior health

One out of three seniors who breaks a hip this year will die as a result of complications from the fracture, but simple fitness measures can greatly reduce a seniors risk of falling, say University of Arkansas at Fayetteville (UA) researchers.

HHS encourages voluntary compliance with HIPAA

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Civil Rights (OCR) director Richard Campanelli says voluntary compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) medical privacy rule is the best way to protect health information.

Rehab Continuum Report Archives – June 1, 2003

June 1, 2003