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The Department of Health (Department) has received questions regarding the operation and management of home care, home health care, and hospice agencies in relation to the COVID-19 health emergency. This additional information is provided to help you understand and operationalize the guidance provided by the Governor and the Secretary of Health as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Please join us for the next Community HealthChoices (CHC) Third Thursday Webinar on May 21, 2020, at 1:30 p.m. Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) Deputy Secretary, Kevin Hancock, will be providing updates on COVID-19.
Click here to register for the webinar.
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
If you require captioning services, please click here and use the log in information:
Username: OLL / Password: OLL
Reminder: All CHC related information can be found at www.healthchoices.pa.gov. Comments can be submitted electronically to RA-PWCHC@pa.gov.
If you have any questions, please contact the OLTL Bureau of Policy Development and Communications Management at 717-857-3280.
A listserv has been established for ongoing updates on the CHC program. It is titled OLTL-COMMUNITY-HEALTHCHOICES, please visit the ListServ Archives page at http://listserv.dpw.state.pa.us to update or register your email address.
It is imperative that you notify the Office of Long-Term Living for changes that would affect your provider file, such as addresses and telephone numbers. Mail to/pay to addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers may be updated electronically through ePEAP, which can be accessed through the PROMISe™ provider portal. For any other provider file changes please notify the Bureau of Fee for Service Programs Enrollment and Certification Section at 1-800-932-0939 Option #1.
On April 19, CMS announced the agency will be requiring facilities to report COVID-19 information to the CDC and to families. Within three weeks of that announcement, on April 30, CMS issued an Interim Final Rule with Comment Period with new regulatory requirements. With the new regulatory requirements, nursing homes are required to report the first week of data to the CDC beginning May 8 but no later than May 17. For the first time, all 15,000 nursing homes will be reporting this data directly to the CDC through its reporting tool.
In order to report, facilities must enroll in the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Information on how to enroll is available here. As nursing homes report this data to the CDC, CMS will be taking swift action and publicly posting this information so all Americans have access to accurate and timely information on COVID-19 in nursing homes. More information on the CDC’s NHSN COVID-19 module can be found here.
CMS released a new toolkit developed to aid nursing homes, Governors, states, departments of health, and other agencies who provide oversight and assistance to these facilities. These additional resources will help in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic within nursing homes. The toolkit builds on previous actions taken by CMS, which provide a wide range of tools and guidance to states, healthcare providers and others during the public health emergency. The toolkit is comprised of best practices from a variety of front line health care providers, Governors’ COVID-19 task forces, associations and other organizations, and experts, and is intended to serve as a catalogue of resources dedicated to addressing the specific challenges facing nursing homes as they combat COVID-19.
The March 30 Interim Final Rule with Comment Period added coverage during the Public Health Emergency for audio-only telephone evaluation and management visits (CPT codes 99441, 99442, and 99443) retroactive to March 1. On April 30, a new Physician Fee Schedule was implemented increasing the payment rate for these codes. Medicare Administrative Contractors (MACs) will reprocess claims for those services that they previously denied and/or paid at the lower rate.
There are also a number of add on services (CPT codes 90785, 90833, 90836, 90838, 96160, 96161, 99354, 99355, and G0506) which Medicare may have denied during this Public Health Emergency. MACs will reprocess those claims for dates of service on or after March 1.
You do not need to do anything.
Hospitals that incur physician compensation costs must allocate those costs based on the percentage of total time spent furnishing:
Hospitals must submit physician allocation agreements annually as part of the cost report filing process. During the Public Health Emergency (PHE), any one of these time study options is acceptable:
For more information, see the Provider Reimbursement Manual:
CMS announced a call for nominations for the new contractor-led Coronavirus Commission on Safety and Quality in Nursing Homes. The commission’s work will build on the Trump Administration’s long history of decisive actions to protect nursing home residents. The commission will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic in nursing homes and will inform immediate and future actions to safeguard the health and quality of life for an especially vulnerable population of Americans.
Press Release
Nursing Home Commission Nominations
Tuesdays from 3 to 3:30 pm ET
These calls provide targeted updates on the agency’s latest COVID-19 guidance. Leaders in the field also share best practices. There is an opportunity to ask questions if time allows.
To Participate on May 19:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Home health and hospice providers
Wednesdays from 4:30 to 5 pm ET
These calls provide targeted updates on the agency’s latest COVID-19 guidance. Leaders in the field also share best practices. There is an opportunity to ask questions if time allows.
To Participate on May 20:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Nursing home providers
Wednesdays from 5:30 to 6 pm ET
These calls provide targeted updates on the agency’s latest COVID-19 guidance. Leaders in the field also share best practices. There is an opportunity to ask questions if time allows.
To Participate on May 20:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Dialysis organizations
Thursdays from 3 to 3:30 pm ET
These calls provide targeted updates on the agency’s latest COVID-19 guidance. Leaders in the field also share best practices. There is an opportunity to ask questions if time allows.
To Participate on May 21:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Nurses
Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 pm ET
Hospitals, health systems, and providers: Ask CMS questions about our temporary actions that empower you to:
To Participate on May 21:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Physicians and other clinicians
Fridays from 12:30 to 2 pm ET
These weekly calls are a joint effort between CMS Administrator Seema Verma, Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn, MD, and the White House Coronavirus Task Force. Physicians and other clinicians: Share your experience, ideas, strategies, and insights related to your COVID-19 response. There is an opportunity to ask questions.
To Participate on May 22:
For More Information:
Target Audience: Physicians and other clinicians
This morning, Pennsylvania Department of Human Services Secretary, Teresa Miller, shared the following Office of Long-Term Living announcement:
Office of Long-Term Living Deputy Secretary Kevin Hancock’s last day at DHS will be Friday, June 12. Kevin has been an incredible leader and advocate at DHS, overseeing a major system transformation through the successful implementation of Community HealthChoices. CHC is both modernizing service delivery for people who rely on Medicaid for long-term services and supports and making the system more sustainable by creating more opportunity for innovation. This program’s initial successes are a testament to Kevin’s leadership and the dedication and skill of the entire OLTL team. CHC is a true success story, and I want to thank Kevin for everything he did to make this possible.
Jamie Buchenauer, who currently serves as Director of the Bureau of Fee-for-Service Programs in the Office of Medical Assistance Programs, will move into OLTL’s Deputy Secretary role on Monday, June 15. Jamie has held this position since August 2015 and has held numerous roles in state government at the Department of Health, the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency, and the General Assembly and outside state government with the Hospital and Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
Jamie brings a diverse experience both with DHS and other areas of health policy, and I am confident that she will continue to build on the strong foundation built by Kevin and the OLTL team.
I hope you will join me in welcoming Jamie to this new role and wishing Kevin luck!
Teresa
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved temporary changes to the Community HealthChoices and OBRA 1915(c) waivers due to COVID-19. The Office of Long-Term Living (OLTL) is extending the same flexibilities to the Act 150 Program. The changes described may be implemented immediately and apply to all counties, including those that changed from red phase to yellow phase on May 8, 2020.
If you have questions about the information in these documents, please contact the OLTL Provider Helpline at 800-932-0939.
The Department of Human Services has issued updated guidance and a consumer-facing notice regarding the Medical Assistance Transportation Program (MATP) in light of the COVID-19 public health emergency.
Dear Stakeholders,
As you know all too well, the COVID-19 mitigation efforts have resulted in disruption to our daily lives. However, OVR’s core mission remains the same, and OVR staff are dedicated to partnering with our vendor community and working through the challenges to serve as many individuals as possible. Despite all the uncertainty in the world, the staff at OVR are working tirelessly to provide services virtually to the people that depend on us the most and create employment opportunities for people with disabilities.
OVR is pleased to inform you of positive news regarding customers who are on OVR’s Order of Selection (OOS) wait list. On May 1, 2020, we will begin processing an estimated 4,500 customers off the wait list with priority given to eligible customers who have been on the wait list the longest. We will continuously reevaluate opportunities to move additional cases off the wait list into the future. For additional information, please refer to OVR’s Order of Selection web page.
Sincerely,
Shannon Austin
Executive Director, OVR
This is a reminder of the upcoming Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) public meeting scheduled for Friday, April 24, 2020, from 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm. During the public meeting, we will provide EVV implementation updates, a walk-through of the steps involved in the Alternate EVV certification process, and address some of the frequently asked questions since the last public meeting. Due to technology constraints, questions and answers will not be done in the usual format during this meeting. The questions will be collected by chat during the meeting and answers will be provided in a follow-up communication through the Listserv as well as posted to the Department of Human Services (DHS) EVV website.
To register online, please use this link. Please register before April 24 at 1:00 pm. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.
Further public meeting dates have been scheduled and posted to the DHS EVV website.
Any questions about this communication can be sent via email.